Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
WHITMAN AT PACIFIC
Game No. 22/Home Game No. 11
Fri., Feb. 10, Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
WHITWORTH AT PACIFIC
Game No. 23/Home Game No. 12
Sat., Feb. 11, Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
A WIN UNDER THEIR BELTS, BUT STIFF TESTS REMAIN AHEAD
The Pacific men's basketball team returned to the win column this weekend with a hard fought 69-64 home win over Willamette and the return of key starters
Colin Wester and
Dustin Bowser. The Boxers will continue a three-game home stand this weekend with the league's leading teams coming to town as Whitman and No. 10 Whitworth comes to the Stoller Center.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific could not receover from a hot shooting night from George Fox on Friday. The Bruins shot 50.9 percent from the field and 81 percent from the free throw line to bury the Boxers 79-66. The Bruins' Mike Taylor hit five three-pointers in the first five minutes to set the pace.
Charles Mosley led Pacific with 14 points.
• The eight-game losing streak came to an end at home on Saturday as Pacific held off Willamette for a hard-fought 69-64 victory.
Colin Wester, in his second game back after injury, led the Boxers with 22 points and connected on 8 of 17 from the field.
• Pacific saw two main cogs return to the team with
Colin Wester and
Dustin Bowser returning against George Fox. Wester missed three games with an ankle injury while Bowser missed four games with a broken hand. Both players started for the Boxers on Saturday.
• The return of
Colin Wester means the return of the Boxers' top scoring threat. The junior ranks eighth in the NWC with an average of 15.6 points per game and also ranks third in the league with 37 steals.
• This weekend's games continue a three-game home stand for the Boxers. Before Saturday's game against Willamette, the Boxers played six of their last seven games and 10 of their last 12 on the road.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
WHITMAN
The high-charged Missionaries are 15-6 overall and enter the week in a three-way tie for second in the NWC with Puget Sound and George Fox at 8-4. Whitman split a pair of close weekend home games, beating Pacific Lutheran on Friday 73-68 before taking a 66-64 loss to Puget Sound on Saturday. David Michaels did his part to lift Whitman to the win over PLU, scoring 30 points and keyed a comeback from four points down with six minutes left. The Missionaries shot 37.7 percent from the field while the Lutes shot 50 percent for the game and 55 percent in the first half. Whitman & Puget Sound were tied 64-64 with under a minute to go when the Loggers' Riggs Yarbro hit the game-winner with 31 seconds left. Puget Sound held a 37-35 halftime lead and shot 47.9 percent from the field. They held on to win despite being forced into 21 turnovers. Michaels once again led Whitman with 16 points. Michaels has scored 30 or more points in three of the Missionaries' last four games and ranks second in the NWC with an average of 19.4 points per game. He is also the team's leading rebounder at 6.2 rebounds per game. As a team, Whitman is averaging 73.6 points per game and are outscoring opponents by an average of 10 points per contest. Whitman enters the week ranked first in the NWC in steals (8.9 per game), but seventh in field goal percentage (.421) and ninth in free throw percentage (.677). Eric Bridgeland is in his fourth season as head coach after stops as head coach at Puget Sound and interim head coach at Pepperdine.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 54-39
AGAINST CLEARY: Whitman leads 2-1
LAST MEETING: Whitman won 81-66 in Walla Walla, Wash., on Jan. 14, 2012
WHITWORTH
The Pirates enter the week with an 18-3 overall record and lead the NWC with an 11-1 mark. Whitworth was ranked 10th in last week's D3Hoops.com Top-25 Poll and would clinch their third straight NWC championship with two wins this weekend. The Pirates ran their current win streak to five games with two home victories over Puget Sound on Friday, 78-59 and Pacific Lutheran on Saturday, 82-80. Whitworth used a balanced scoring effort with five players scoring double figures and the team shooting 55 percent from the field. Felix Friedt led the Pirates with 16 points and five rebounds while Wade Gebbers scored 14. Pacific Lutheran gave Whitworth a rare home scare on Saturday night. While the Lutes never held the lead, Whitworth needed to hold off three baskets in the final minute to prevent a comeback. Whitworth hit 58 percent from three-point range, making 14 treys. Gebbers scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Pirates. Friedt leads Whitworth with averages of 16.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game and leads the NWC in boards. Idris Lasasi is averaging 15.8 points per game while Gebbers averages 14.8 points per contest. As a team, Whitworth is averaging 76.3 points and 33 rebounds per game and is outscoring opponents by an average of 11 points per contest. The Pirates enter the week leading the NWC in scoring, field goal percentage (.490), three-point percentage (.392) and free throw percentage (.802) and they rank second in assists (13.2 per game) and turnovers (11.7 per game). Matt Logie is in his first year as Whitworth head coach. He replaced former headman Jim Hayford (now at Eastern Washington) after eight seasons at Division I Lehigh, including two years as associate head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Whitworth 46-23
AGAINST CLEARY: Whitworth leads 3-0
LAST MEETING: Whitworth won 65-55 in Spokane, Wash., on Jan. 13, 2012
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
WELCOME BACK COLIN: In a season where Pacific has been snakebit by injuries, the chance to return any piece of the puzzle is welcome.
Colin Wester (Jr., Sherwood, Ore.) gave the Boxers back a major piece of their offensive game when he came off the bench in Friday's contest at George Fox. After missing the previous three games with an ankle injury, Wester scored 12 points in 23 minutes, connecting on 5 of 12 from the field with two three-pointers. In the return home to Forest Grove on Saturday, Wester scored a game-high 22 points in 37 minutes of action to lead the Boxers to the win over Willamette. He went 8 of 17 from the field, which included two three-pointers, and went a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line. For the week, Wester averaged 17 points for the contests, connecting on 44.8 percent from the field. Wester enters the week ranked eighth in the NWC in scoring, averaging 15.6 points per game. He also ranked third in the NWC with 37 steals and 10th in minutes played (32 minutes per game).
WELCOME BACK DUSTIN: Believed to be lost for the season,
Dustin Bowser (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) and the Pacific coaching staff surprised everyone by making his first appearance in four games on Friday at George Fox. Playing through a broken hand, Bowser came off the bench to score four points and grab five rebounds in 14 minutes of action. The 6-foot-8 forward was inserted into the starting lineup on Saturday at home against Willamette. While he did not score, Boswer made a difference simply with his presence inside. He finished the game with five rebounds and a steal. Despite his four-game absence, Bowser continues to rank in the league's top-10 in a number of statistical categories. He ranks fifth in the NWC with an average of 6.9 rebounds per game. Boswer ranks fifth in offensive rebounds (43) and ninth in defensive rebounds (118) and is tied for eighth with 12 blocks.
STEADY AND CONSISTENT: The play of
Charles Mosley (Jr., Hillsboro, Ore.) continues to be about as steady and consistent as the Pacific coaching staff could ask for. Mosley scored double digits in both of the Boxers' games last week. He led the team with 14 points and five rebounds in the Boxers' loss to George Fox on Saturday, going 7 of 12 from the field. On Saturday, Mosley poured in 15 points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds, four assists and two steals to help the Boxers to their victory over Willamette. Mosley enters the week as the team's second leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. One of the team's most consistent shooters, Mosley enters the week ranked sixth in the NWC with a .514 field goal percentage.
PUTTING IT ON THE LINE: Much of the success in Pacific's win over Willamette on Saturday came down to free throws. The Boxers shot 73.3 percent from the free throw line against the Bearcats, connecting on 22 of 30. It was Pacific's best performance at the line since they hit 83.3 percent (10-12) at Trinity (Texas) on Dec. 22. The effort is the third best for the Boxers in a conference game this season, with the list topped by going 92 percent (23-25) against Linfield on Nov. 29.
CHECKING THE MEDICAL CHART: The return of both
Colin Wester and
Dustin Bowser to the lineup go a long ways to helping Pacific get over what has been an injury-laden of the season. Even still, the Boxers will remain without two key players for the season.
Carson Bartlett (Sr., St. Helens, Ore.) never saw the floor after he suffered a season-ending injury knee injury on the first day of practice.
Andrew Beatty (Sr., Lynnwood, Wash.) went down after the third game of the season with a broken wrist. In all, at least six of the Boxers' 16 rostered players have missed significant time this season due to injury. Five of those have been either part-time or regular starters.
A GREAT START: Before their two losses to Trinity (Texas) and New Hope Christian in December, Pacific rode the best start to the season in well over a decade. The Dec. 21 victory over Southwestern (Texas) ran Pacific's record to 7-2, the best start for a Pacific program since the Boxers' 1996-97 NWC championship season. That team also started the year with a 7-2 record. Pacific last started the season 7-4 in 1999-2000. That squad won six of their first seven games en route to earning one of the conference's first two spots in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament.
IN THE NCAA STATS: In the Monday edition of the NCAA Division III statistics report (including games played through Sunday), Pacific ranked 97th in personal fouls per game (16.7) and 99th in rebounding margin (+3.3). Individually,
Colin Wester continues to rank 97th among Division III players with 2.1 steals per game. The NCAA Division III statistics report is released twice weekly and can be found at
http://bit.ly/xGFIIk.
HOME SWEET HOME: After playing just two games at home the entire month of January, Pacific is happy to be back on the Stoller Center home pine. Including Saturday's victory over Willamette, the Boxers will close the season with four of their final five games in Forest Grove. The schedule includes appearances by league-leaders Whitman and Whitworth. Pacific currently owns a 6-4 record at the Stoller Center. Before Saturday, Pacific had played 10 of their last 12 games on the road.
BOXERS TO AIR ALL NORTHWEST CONFERENCE GAMES: Once again this season, Pacific will air all 16 men's and all 16 women's Northwest Conference games on the Internet. Live audio webcasts will be available for home and away league contests at
www.goboxers.com/webcasts. Matt Richert enters his second year calling Pacific basketball after two seasons as the Boxers' football radio voice. Richert also serves as Pacific's assistant sports information director.
PACIFIC PICKED NINTH IN NWC PRESEASON POLL: Northwest Conference coaches have picked Pacific to finish ninth in the league this season according to results of the annual coaches poll, released on October. The Boxers received 10 of a possible 80 votes in the poll. Coaches voted for all teams but their own. Whitworth, under new head coach Matt Logie, was picked to win third straight NWC title. The Pirates earned six first place votes and a total of 67 points. Up-and-coming Whitman was picked second, earning three first place votes and 61 points.
