Jan. 17 NWC Men’s Basketball Wrap (Stories provided by host SID)

At Puget Sound 117, Whitworth 102

Tacoma, Wash. – The present and future look pretty good for Logger basketball as senior guard Matt Glynn and freshmen Curtis Medved combined for 71 points in a 117-102 Puget Sound victory over visiting Whitworth College. The senior guard scored a game high 36 points, doing his freshmen counterpart one better.  Medved finished with 35 points, a career high for the guard from Olympia, Washington.

The victory lifts the Loggers to 12-1 overall and a league leading 4-0 in NWC play.  The loss drops the Pirates to 9-4, 2-2.

In a game that pitted two teams selected to finish one-two in the conference, Glynn and Medved proved to be too much for the Pirates to overcome.  Medved was blazing in the first half, finishing with 20 points on 7 o f10 shooting, six of his makes coming from behind the three-point arch.  His performance, combined with Glynn's 14 first half points, propelled the Loggers to a 53-46 halftime lead.

In the second half Whitworth implored a box-and-one set against Medved, challenging the freshmen to put the ball on the floor.  Glynn then stepped-up his game, scoring 22 points in the second-half on an array of impressive offensive moves.

Whitworth made a run to bring the game within 8 at 101-93 with just over two minutes to play, but clutch free throw shooting from the Loggers pushed the lead back to its final margin of 15.

Whitworth forward Brian Depew ended the night with 8 rebounds and 24 points on 10 of 14 shooting.  Guard Jon Gebbers had a good night from the floor, leading Whitworth scorers with 32 on 11-19 shooting and making 8 of 10 free throws.

In the end though it proved to be too much of the veteran Glynn and the rookie Medved.  Their final stat line read 22 for 33, 12 of 20 on three-pointers, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 15 of 17 from the line.  Not a band combination of youth and experience at all.

Puget Sound takes to the road to face the Bearcats of Willamette, while Whitworth returns home to host the Boxers of Pacific University.

At Linfield 92, George Fox 69

McMinnville, Ore. -- A balanced attack at both ends of the floor carried Linfield to a convincing 92-69 Northwest Conference victory over Yamhill County rival George Fox Saturday night at Ted Wilson Gym. The Wildcats (8-4 3-0 NWC), winners of four straight games, led from wire to wire and remained unbeaten in conference play.

Six Wildcats reached double figures in scoring. T.J. Middlesworth and Chris Lewis shared team scoring honors with 15 points. Middlesworth hit 6 of 9 shots from the field while Lewis made 6 of 10. John Broussard had 10 points to go with nine rebounds. Nick Fusare, and Blake Shelton each added 12 points, and Sam Kreiger had 10 as Linfield combined to shoot .507 from the field. Wildcats point guard Joe Neill passed out seven assists while adding seven points and five rebounds.

Bruins forward Mark Gayman tallied a game-high 16 points in a losing effort, sinking 6 of 11 from the floor. Guard Aaron Schmick scored 11 points in the first half, then cooled off in the second, finishing with 14 points, six assists and four rebounds.

Linfield put the game's first 14 points in the scorebook before the Bruins recovered with a 7-0 run, capped by Chris Parker's basket with 11:07 left that made it 25-20. The Wildcats led 30-20 at the midway point of the half, but again GFU closed the gap to within six at 34-28. Linfield assembled a 7-0 run to quickly push their lead back to 13. The Bruins put together a run of their own, capped by Mark Gayman's eight-foot fadeaway to again cut the margin to single digits. The Wildcats, who shot .486 to the Bruins' .361, led 45-35 at the break. The 'Cats also controlledthe backboards, outrebounding the visitors 28-17 during the opening 20 minutes.

A jumper from short range by Shelton with 14:50 left gave the Wildcats their largest lead to that point at 57-42. Consecutive buckets by Fusare extended the Wildcats' advantage go 71-50 with 9:50 to play. Linfield never trailed by fewer than 20 after that.

Next up, the Wildcats venture to eastern Washington where they'll face strong challenges from NWC foes Whitman and Whitworth. Linfield plays Whitman Friday night in Walla Walla, then heads to Spokane for a Saturday night date with Pirates of Whitworth.

Whitman 66, at Pacific Lutheran 61

Parkland, Wash. - Whitman College scored 11 unanswered points in a span of 1:57 to break a 52-52 tie and go on to a 66-61 victory over Pacific Lutheran University in a Northwest College men's basketball game tonight at Olson Auditorium.

Cale Will's three-pointer with 2:59 left put the Missionaries (6-7, 2-2 NWC) in front for good and begin the 11 point run. Casey Nelson made two free throws with 27 seconds remaining to end the spurt. Two PLU three points in the final five seconds ended the game.

The Lutes took a 14-13 lead with 8:35 left in the first half on Gabe Ash's lay-up. Whitman later tied the score at 23-all with 1:06 left on Greg Caldwell's three pointer. Hazen Hyland answered with a three-pointer with 42 seconds left and the Lutes held the 26-23 advantage at halftime.

Whitman took a 35-32 lead on Caldwell's three pointer with 17:08 remaining in the game. The Missionaries built a seven point advantage, but the Lutes rallied and went in front 50-49 when Jonathan Anderson rebounded his own missed shot and scored with 5:03 left.

Whitman then took a 52-50 lead, but Sudon DeSuze tied the socre with 3:09 left before Will hit a three-pointer to begin the 11 point run.

Nelson led Whitman with 16 points, while Ricker scored 15, Caldwell 13 and Kyle Dalvit 10. Dalvit led the Missionaries with 7 rebounds and Ricker dished out 7 assists.

Drew Cardwell paced PLU with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Jason Heutink scored 10 points.

At Willamette 67, Lewis & Clark 63

Salem, Ore. – Willamette defeated the visiting Pioneers in the Bearcats’ NWC home opener.  John Olinger scored 16 and Miles Sandgathe had 15 for Willamette (7-5, 2-1)

Lewis & Clark (9-4, 2-2) got 19 points from Danny Winchester and 16 points from John Mietus.

At Pacific 101, Multnomah Bible 39

Forest Grove, Ore. -- The inside game was on.  The outside game was on.  The defense was also on.  Pacific had everything clicking on all cylinders Saturday night, handing Multnomah a 101-39 clocking in men's basketball action Saturday night at the Pacific Athletic Center.

Pacific dominated nearly every part of the contest to improve their record to 4-7 overall.  Pacific outshot Multnomah from the field 52 percent to 23 percent, at the free throw line 88 percent to 52 percent and from the three-point line 43 percent to 12 percent.  The 62-point win was the most lopsided win for Pacific since a 116-55 victory at Multnomah on Dec. 5, 2001.

Branden Kawazoe led all scorers with a career high 24 points on 8 of 11 from the field and 6 of 8 from the three-point arc.  Tim Dougherty also had a career high of 13 points in 16 minutes off the bench.  Joe Van Domelen finished with 12 points on a night where all but one Boxer scored. 

David Carpenter led the Ambassadors with 14 points.  Sam Duke connected for 11.

Pacific had the game well in hand in the first seven minutes of the game.  Kawazoe opened by making his first three shots, all three-pointers, which gave the Boxers a base to build a 22-0 lead.   Multnomah didn't score until Isaac Myers hit a free throw at the 12:45 mark, and did not hit their first field goal until Carpenter hit a three with 10:22 left.  The Boxers hit 64 percent from outside (9-14) and 56 percent from the field to cruise into the locker room with a 52-19 halftime lead.

Nothing changed in the second half as the Boxers continued to play a balanced game inside and outside.  Erin Gram built the lead to 41 on his steal and lay-in with 16:02 remaining.  They eclipsed the 50-point mark on Marcus Roche's three with 9:10 left, and hit 60 on Kyle Motta's free throw with 3:21 left.

Pacific returns to Northwest Conference action next weekend, making the eastern Washington road trip to face Whitworth on Friday and Whitman on Saturday.