Strong Inside Game Puts Pirates Past Boxers
Summary:
Men's Basketball: Loss : 82-51 | Stats
Whitworth turns to their forwards to surge late as the Pirates turned in an 82-51 men's basketball victory over the Boxers as the eastern Washington trip ends
SPOKANE, Wash. - Pacific could not keep up with Whitworth's potent inside game Saturday night as the No. 19 Pirates rolled to an 82-51 victory over the Boxers in Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
Forwards Bo Gregg and Cavlin Jurich led the way for the Pirates (10-1, 2-0 NWC), scoring 20 points and 17 points, respectively. Ross Nakamura added 16 along with 10 assists and Nate Montgomery added 11 as the Pirates shot 46.3 percent (31-67) from the field, including a 53 percent second half performance.
Garold Howe (Sr., Salem, Ore.) paced Pacific with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Micah Mooney (Sr., Junction City, Ore.) added 11 and Todd Hinderman (Sr., Stanwood, Wash.) scored 10. Pacific shot 31.5 percent (17-54) from the field and went just 2 of 19 from three-point range.
Through the first 10 minutes, it appeared that the Boxers and Pirates would engage in a close battle. After Whitworth pulled out to a 13-6 lead early, Pacific narrowed it to two points on Marcus Kienlen's (Fr., Scappoose, Ore.) jumper at the 13:35 mark. Whitworth would go back up nine points on Gregg's three-pointer with 11:22 to go. Gregg's lay-in at the 4:32 mark gave Whitworth their first double-digit lead and the Pirates went into halftime with a 12-point advantage, 37-25.
Whitworth ballooned the lead to 15 points four minutes into the second half on a Nakamura jumper, but the Boxers managed to cut the lead back to nine points on two Mooney free throws with 10:57 to go and a three-pointer from Howe put Pacific back with five, 49-44, with 9:21 remaining.
Pacific hit just two more field goals from that point as the Pirates went on a 33-7 run to close the contest. Gregg used a three-point play to put Whitworth up 22 points with 2:28 to go and never looked back.
The Boxers will now return home for the first time since early December, hosting Pacific Lutheran on Friday at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Internet via the Boxer Sports Network. Log on to www.goboxers.com/multimedia/webcasts.cfm to listen live.
Posted by Blake Timm (timmbr@pacificu.edu) on Jan 3, 2009 at 10:33 PM
