Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT LEWIS & CLARK
Game No. 16/Away Game No. 7
Fri., Jan. 20, 8 p.m., Pamplin Sports Center, Portland.
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
PACIFIC LUTHERAN AT PACIFIC
Game No. 17/Home Game No. 9
Sat., Jan. 21, 8 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
BOXERS AIM TO RETURN TO WIN COLUMN AS FIRST HALF ENDS
The Pacific men's basketball will aim to end the first half of the Northwest Conference season with a couple of wins after dropping both games on the eastern Washington road swing to No. 10 Whitworth and Whitman. The Boxers will complete a three-game road trip at Lewis & Clark on Friday before playing their second and final home game of the month on Saturday when they host Pacific Lutheran.
BOXER BYTES
• An aggressive Pacific squad stayed with No. 10 ranked Whitworth for the entire 40 minutes Friday night, shooting 41 percent from the field and 72 percent from the free throw line in a 65-55 loss to the Pirates.
Colin Wester led the Boxers with 20 points, connecting on 6 of 15 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free throw line.
• Pacific shot an impressive 53.8 percent from the field on Saturday at Whitman, but 20 turnovers and hot three-point and free throw shooting by the Missionaries resulted in an 81-66 loss.
Charles Mosley went 8 of 11 from the field to lead the Boxers with 16 points.
• Head Coach
Tim Cleary continues to play with the starting lineup as he looks for the night combination to spark the Pacific offense from the start.
Coby Proctor, who originally earned the starting point guard spot after
Andrew Beatty's season-ending injury, was reinserted into the starting five. Freshman
Leland Devlin earned his first start of the season Saturday against Whitman.
• Despite shooting some of the fewest shots in the league, Pacific ranks as one of the most accurate shooting teams in the NWC. The Boxers enter the week ranked second with a .467 field goal percentage.
Dustin Bowser and
Charles Mosley both rank individually in the team's top-10 in field goal acuity.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
LEWIS & CLARK
The Pioneers enter the week tied for fifth in the NWC at 3-3 and are 8-7 overall under first year head coach Dinari Foreman. Lewis & Clark split their games last weekend. On Friday, the Pioneers managed just 36.8 percent shooting from the field in a 69-54 road loss at Pacific Lutheran. The Lutes had their way with the Pioneers offensively, shooting 49.1 percent from the field and a perfect 14 of 14 from the free throw line. James Hollins led Lewis & Clark with 18 points and five rebounds. L&C rebounded to win their four game in five tries on Saturday, easily cruising by Willamette 87-74. Much like PLU, Willamette outshot the Pioneers and connected on 49 percent from the field, but the Pioneers made 11 three-pointers and went 16 of 20 from the free throw line. Hollins led three L&C players in double figures with 18 points to go along with nine rebounds. He hit 7 of 7 from the charity stripe. Hollins leads the Pioneers with averages of 15.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. As a team, the Pioneers are averaging 69.1 points and 37.3 rebounds per game and rank second in the NWC in free throw percentage (.731). Foreman, a longtime L&C assistant, succeeded Bob Gaillard as head coach last spring. Gaillard retired after 22 seasons with the Pioneers.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Lewis & Clark leads 64-33
AGAINST CLEARY: Lewis & Clark leads 2-0
LAST MEETING: Lewis & Clark won 45-42 in Portland on Feb. 11, 2011
PACIFIC LUTHERAN
The Lutes are in a three-way tie for second in the NWC at 4-2 and are 7-8 overall. The Lutes snapped a three-game losing streak with two wins last week. On Tuesday, the Lutes never trailed in an 80-62 win over Puget Sound thanks in part by a 19-point, 15-rebound effort by forward Cameron Schilling. The Lutes shot an impressive 57.6 percent from the field and saw five players score in double figures, including four of five starters. The momentum carried through to Friday where the Lutes were 69-54 winners over Lewis & Clark. PLU led most of the contest and limited the Pioneers to just 36.8 percent shooting for the night. The Lutes connected on 49 percent from the field and a perfect 14 of 14 from the free throw line. James Conti led PLU with 20 points. Andrew Earnest leads four PLU players averaging double-figure scoring on the season with an average of 13.5 points per game. Conti is averaging 13.4 points per game. As a team, PLU is averaging 69.9 points per game and ranks first in the NWC in three-point shooting (.398). Steve Dickerson is in his sixth season as Pacific Lutheran head coach
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific Lutheran leads 59-30
AGAINST CLEARY: Series tied 1-1
LAST MEETING: Pacific Lutheran won 87-57 in Forest Grove on Jan. 29, 2011
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
CONTINUING TO POUR IT IN: Colin Wester (Jr., Sherwood, Ore.) continues to pour it in as the Boxers' spark plug on offense. Wester was the Boxers' leading scorer in the close 65-55 loss to No. 10 Whitworth on Friday, scoring 20 points on 6 of 15 from the field, including three three-pointers, and 5 of 6 from the free throw line. Wester also did his part against Whitman on Saturday, connecting for 14 points on 5 of 10 from the field and 3 of 3 from the charity stripe. He also added a game-high eight rebounds. Wester continues to rank as one of the top scorers in the NWC and the Boxers' top offensive threat. He leads Pacific and ranks sixth in the NWC with an average of 15.7 points per game. Wester also enters the week ranked fifth in the NWC with 82 field goals made and ninth with 31 three-pointers made and 35 assists. Defensively, Wester enters the week ranked second in the league with 34 steals and 10th in total rebounds with 84.
CHUCK AMUCK: Pacific's prowess on the eastern Washington trip was helped by solid play from forward
Charles Mosley (Jr., Hillsboro, Ore.). Mosley was the Boxers' leading scorer against Whitman on Saturday, scoring 16 points on 8 of 11 from the field to go along with six rebounds. On Friday night at Whitworth, Mosley connected for 12 points while hitting on 6 of 9 from the field. For the two games, Mosley was the Boxers' most accurate shooter as he hit 70 percent of his shots (14-20). The Boxers' second leading scorer at 11.2 points per game, Mosley also ranks seventh in the NWC in field goal shooting, connecting on 53.7 percent of his shots. He is also tied for sixth in the NWC with a total of 29 rebounds.
ACCURATE SHOOTING: Pacific has been fairly selective in it's shooting this season...a move that has paid off. The Boxers enter the week ranked second in field goal percentage, hitting 46.7 percent of their shots. The Boxers were ranked 76th in the category in the latest NCAA Division III statistical ranking (for games as of Jan. 12).
Dustin Bowser (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) is the Boxers' most accurate shooter, ranking fifth in the NWC at 56.8 percent (46-81).
Charles Mosley is ranked seventh at 53.7 percent (65-121). Where Pacific is among the tops in shooting acuity, they are at the bottom of the NWC in attempts and makes. The Boxers are ninth in the league with 51.4 field goal attempts per game and eighth with 24 makes per game.
CONTUNING TO SHUFFLE: Head Coach
Tim Cleary continues to look for the right combination to spark the offense. The changes continued on last weekend's road trip with
Coby Proctor (Fr., Sublimity, Ore.) being reinserted into the starting lineup. The original pick to step in for the injured
Andrew Beatty (Sr., Lynnwood, Wash.), Proctor had come off the bench in the previous two games in favor of
Cameron Hayes (So., Milton, Wash.).
Leland Devlin (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.) earned his first start of the season against Whitman on Saturday, getting the nod over
Ernesto Mayz (So., Caracas, Venezuela), who had started the previous three games.
BOXERS PLAY ON WITHOUT BARTLETT, BEATTY: Pacific will move on through their 2011-12 season without two of their most experienced players.
Carson Bartlett (Sr., St. Helens, Ore.) suffered a season-ending knee injury on Pacific's first day of practice on Oct. 16. The injury occurred on the opposite knee that he injured three years ago. Bartlett was Pacific's second leading scorer during the 2010-11 season at shooting guard, averaging 13.5 points per game while making a respectable 47.3 percent of his shots from the field.
Andrew Beatty (Sr., Lynnwood, Wash.), Pacific's starting point guard, was lost for the year when he broke his right wrist in hard collision and fall taken in the Boxers' win over Walla Walla on Nov. 26. Beatty proved an expect so far in the year in running the Pacific offense. He averaged three points and two rebounds per game and had nine assists and four steals against just three turnovers. Beatty, who transferred to Pacific from Skagit Valley CC in 2010, is expected to apply for a medical hardship.
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.
DEFENSIVELY SOUND: Pacific continues to rank as one of the best defensive teams in the nation according to the latest NCAA Division III statistical report (of games as of Jan. 12). The Boxers ranked 41st in scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of 61.6 points per game. Only Whitman is holding opponents to less points, ranking 26th with an average of 60.3 points allowed per game. Rose-Hulman leads Division III with an average defense of 53.4 points per game.
ALSO IN THE NCAA STATS: As a team, Pacific also ranked 54th nationally in rebounding margin (5.7), 65th in personal fouls (16.4 per game), 75th in field goal percentage (.466) and 97th in turnovers per game (13.8). The NCAA Division III statistics report will is released twice weekly and can be found at
http://bit.ly/xGFIIk.
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.
