2009-10 Men's Basketball Season Review
BARTLETT
EARNS CONFERENCE, REGIONAL HONORS: Before the 2009-10 season started,
Ross Bartlett was unsure if he would finish out his collegiate basketball
eligibility. The balance of basketball and first year studies in Pacific’s
School of Graduate Psychology had the potential to be quite a load.
In the end, Bartlett returned for his final season, much to the benefit of the Boxers’ men’s basketball program. He ended the year with selection to the All-Northwest Conference Second Team and the D3Hoops.com All-West Region Third Team. He was just one of three NWC players named to the D3Hoops.com squad.
“Ross is the best student-athlete I’ve been around in 17 years in college basketball,” said Head Men’s Basketball Coach Jason Lowery. “He is everything that is right about intercollegiate athletics. He is unbelievable person, student and player.”
While balancing basketball and graduate studies, Bartlett turned in the best numbers of his career. He led the Boxers in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. He finished the year ranked second in the NWC and 15th among NCAA Division III players in rebounding and was ranked third in the league in scoring. Additionally, Bartlett ranked second in the NWC in blocked shots (1.24 per game), offense rebounds (3.88 per game) and defensive rebounds (6.88 per game) and third in field goal percentage (.548).
Bartlett provided much of the catalyst behind the Pacific offense, finishing with 15 double-doubles (points and rebounds) and scored in double figures in all but three of the Boxers’ 25 games. He dropped in a season-high 29 points against George Fox on Jan. 26 and pulled down a high 19 rebounds against Puget Sound on Feb. 19.
BARTLETT SETS CAREER REBOUNDS MARK: If his season numbers weren’t enough, Ross Bartlett also managed to topple a career record that had stood in the Pacific record books for half a century. Bartlett set the Boxers’ all-time career record for rebounds against Concordia (Ore.) on Dec. 12, breaking the mark of 688 set by Pacific Hall of Famer Dan French from 1952 to 1956. Bartlett finished with nearly 100 more boards than French, collecting a total of 784 rebounds in his four-year career.
In addition to his success on the boards, Bartlett leaves Pacific with his name etched in a couple of other places in the Pacific record book. He finished fifth on the Boxers’ all-time scoring list with 1,330 points and also set a single-game record with six blocked shots against Portland Bible on Nov. 17.
ROUGH ROAD: A promising season for the Pacific men’s basketball program proved to be a rougher go than anyone could have imagined. The anticipated return of Ross Bartlett for his senior season was tempered by a slow return to the lineup by Carson Bartlett from a knee injury and eventual season-ending injuries to point guards Jonathan Jury and Jordan Carter.
The Boxers opened the season with a close 82-81 home victory over Portland Bible on Nov. 17, led by a 28-point performance by Ross Bartlett. The Boxers then dropped their next three games before returning to the win column in their first road game, a 78-65 decision at Corban. A 109-90 victory over Multnomah gave Pacific two in a row before the Boxers closed out the non-conference season with a split at the SCIAC Classic in California, beating Caltech before losing to host Cal Lutheran.
Injuries took their toll as the Boxers rolled through the Northwest Conference season. Pacific snapped a nine-game losing streak on Jan. 26, posting a 72-69 victory over George Fox. That started a run where the Boxers won four of five games, including victories over Pacific Lutheran, Whitman and Linfield. The Boxers finished the year with an 8-17 record and a 4-12 NWC mark.
BOARD
MEETING: When it came to performing on the glass, Pacific was
as good as they come in the Northwest Conference. The Boxers led the league
with 41.1 rebounds per game (1,027 total). The Boxers also led the league
with 15.36 offensive rebounds game while finishing fourth with 25.72 defensive
boards per contest. Pacific saw two players rank in the top-10 in the NWC
in rebounding. Ross Bartlett finished ranked second in the NWC and 15th
among all NCAA Division III players with 10.8 boards per game while LeMar
Anglin finished ranked ninth in the league at 5.7 per game.
While excelling at pulling down the boards, the Boxers were also successful at keeping their opponents off the glass. Pacific finished second in the league in rebounding defense, limiting opponents to 35.2 rebounds per game. The Boxers’ outrebounded opponents by an average of 5.8 boards per game, ranking 39th among all Division III teams.
MAKING THEIR FREE THROWS: Pacific proved to be among the most accurate teams in the nation when it came to free throw shooting. The Boxers finished the season ranked 73rd nationally and third in the Northwest Conference with a team .722 free throw percentage. The Boxers finished shooting 70 percent or better from the line in 15 of their games and finished at 80 percent or above five times.
Ross Bartlett led the Boxers from the charity stripe individually, connecting on 80.5 percent (91-113) of his shots. LeMar Anglin ranked 12th with a 77.0 percentage (97-126). Colin Wester finished shooting 77.8 percent (28-36), but did not meet the minimum of two free throws made per game to rank in the NWC statistics.
ANGLIN’ ON THE BLOCKS: The addition of LeMar Anglin to the Pacific lineup gave the Boxers some needed height that had been missing on the blocks. The Chicago native, who arrived in Forest Grove by way of Yakima Valley CC, finished second for the Boxers in scoring with a 12.6 points per game average and a 5.7 rebounds per game average. His 51.2 percent percentage of shots made from the field ranked fifth in the NWC while his rebounding ranked ninth in the league.
Anglin proved to be a good complement to Ross Bartlett on the blocks in both scoring and rebounding. Anglin finished in double-figure scoring in 17 of his 22 games, led by a 25-point effort against Corban on Nov. 28. He also finished the year with three double-doubles, topped by a 13-point, 15-rebound performance against Linfield on Feb. 12.
FOUR-YEAR
EFFORT WELL DONE: One of the few players left from Jason Lowery’s
initial Pacific recruiting class, A.J. Gaulton proved again in his senior
year to be versatile and able to assist the team wherever needed. Gaulton
started in 23 of the Boxers’ 25 games and spent most of the final month
of the season as the team’s starting point guard. Gaulton finished the
year averaging 7.7 points per game and led the team with 72 assists. His
2.88 assists per game ranked eighth in the league statistics.
Gaulton saved his last performances for the final month of the season, scoring in double figures in half of the Boxers’ final eight games. He posted a season-high 21 points on 7 of 12 from the field against George Fox on Jan. 26 and tallied back-to-back efforts of 15 points against Puget Sound on Feb. 19 and Willamette on Feb. 20. Gaulton also posted three eight-assist games, all coming in a row in the Boxers’ final home games against Whitworth, Whitman and Linfield.
MUSICAL POINT GUARDS: A rash of injuries left the Boxers scrambling to find the right person to run the team on the floor at point guard. Sophomores Jordan Carter and Jonathan Jury were initially set to split the role. Carter, however, continued to be limited by the re-occurrence of a knee injury that he suffered during the 2008-09 campaign. Carter started just three non-conference games and played in only four conference games.
Jury, meanwhile, appeared to have played his way into a full-time starting role following Carter’s injury before injuries took the wind out of his sails. Jury first missed some time after dislocating his shoulder in the NWC opener against Pacific Lutheran on Jan. 3. He came back quickly and built his minutes back up before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 26. From that point, A.J. Gaulton stepped up to start the final seven games of the season at the point.
MIGHTY
CARSON ART PLAYER: While his knee did not heel as quickly as he
would have liked following a season-ending injury during 2008-09, Carson
Bartlett did build back to play a significant role in the Pacific offense.
Carson played in 24 games, making 14 starts as a shooting guard. He averaged
6.7 points per game for the Boxers. He finished the year by posting double
figures in four of the Boxers’ final six games, led by a 15-point effort
against Linfield on Feb. 12.
FRESH TAKE: The 2009-10 season also saw the arrival of three freshmen who have the potential to play major scoring roles for the team in future years. Colin Wester saw significant time in his first year, averaging 26 points per game while finishing third for the Boxers in scoring at 8.2 points per game. Adam McElwee also played in all 25 games. He averaged seven points per game and proved to be the Boxers’ most accurate three-point shooter at 37.8 percent, ranking him 10th in the NWC. Charles Mosley came off the bench in all 25 games and averaged 4.2 points per game.
LOWERY STEPS DOWN: After five seasons leading the Pacific men’s basketball program, Jason Lowery announced on Apr. 26 that he was leaving Pacific to become the head girls’ basketball coach at Portland’s Jesuit High School. A 1993 graduate of Jesuit, Lowery will lead a largely intact Crusaders’ squad that finished as the state runner-up in the 2010 OSAA 6A State Championship.
“Pacific has been great to me and my family over the last five years,” Lowery said. “Having had the opportunity to build life-long relationships with my players, including the likes of Kyle Motta, Ross Bartlett, Jonathan Jury, Garold Howe, Jesse Wong, Branden Kawazoe and countless others has been an absolute privilege.”
Season Summary
Overall Record: 8-17
NWC Record: 4-12 (9th)
Home Record: 5-9 Away Record: 2-8 Neutral Site: 1-0
SEASON HONORS
Third Team D3Hoops.com All-West Region: Ross Bartlett (P)
Second Team All-NWC: Ross Bartlett (P)
D3Hoops.com National Team of the Week: Ross Bartlett (Jan. 25-31)
NWC Student-Athlete of the Week: Ross Bartlett (Feb. 2, Feb. 23)
RECORD BROKEN IN 2009-10
CAREER REBOUNDS: Ross Bartlett, 784 (previous 688, Dan French, 1952-56)
BLOCKED SHOTS, GAME: Ross Bartlett, 6 vs. Portland Bible, 11/17/09 (previous 5, Seth Miller vs. Willamette, 1/15/99)
TEAM REBOUNDS, GAME: 71 vs. Multnomah, 12/1/09 (previous 63 vs. Warner Pacific, 12/21/96)
TEAM ASSISTS, GAME: 32 vs. Multnomah, 12/1/09 (previous 31 vs. Multnomah, 12/2/86)