Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT LINFIELD
Game No. 18/Away Game No. 8
Tues., Jan. 24, 8 p.m., Ted Wilson Gymnasium, McMnnville, Ore.
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
PUGET SOUND AT PACIFIC
Game No. 19/Away Game No. 9
Sat., Jan. 28, 8 p.m., Memorial Fieldhouse, Tacoma, Wash.
Live Stats:
bit.ly/u2F5Vv
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
SECOND HALF OF NWC SEASON OPENS WITH THREE ON THE ROAD
The Pacific men's basketball team opens the second half of the Northwest Conference season with a three-game road trip before finishing the season with four of their final five games at the Stoller Center. The Boxers will try to work through injuries to break a five-game losing streak at Linfield on Tuesday and at Puget Sound on Saturday.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific mustered just 37 percent shooting in front of a amped up Lewis & Clark home crowd on Friday night, falling to the Pioneers 84-50. Freshman
Joey Burns came off the bench to lead Pacific with 11 points.
•
Marc Eppinger scored a career high 18 points on 5 of 8 from the field and 7 of 9 from the charity stripe to lead Pacific in a 77-56 loss to Pacific Lutheran at home on Saturday. The Boxers shot a respectable 47 percent from the field in the contest, but made 15 fewer shots than the Lutes and were outrebounded 34-19.
• Injuries continue to keep the Boxers from reaching their full potential. Forward
Dustin Bowser will be out for the season with a broken hand while guard
Colin Wester missed the Pacific Lutheran game after suffering a rolled ankle against Lewis & Clark. To date, Pacific has seen three starters go down with season-ending injuries.
• Pacific continues to be one of the most accurate shooting teams in the Northwest Conference. The Boxers enter the week ranked secondc with a .462 field goal percentage. Both
Dustin Bowser and
Charles Mosley individually rank in the NWC top-10 in shooting acuity.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
LINFIELD
The Wildcats enter the week in eighth place in the NWC at 1-8 and are 3-14 overall. Linfield has lost their last four games and nine of their last 10 contests dating back to Dec. 8. On Friday, the Wildcats put together a solid night against Puget Sound's high octane offense in a 72-55 loss. Linfield shot 40 percent from the field, but made 14 fewer shots than the Loggers. Zach Anderson led the Wildcats with 18 points. On Saturday, Linfield shot 67 percent in the second half and 58.8 percent for the game but still could not overcome George Fox in a 84-77 loss. Linfield made 10 of 16 three-pointers, but George Fox turned the ball over just four times and the Bruins' bench outscored the Wildcats' bench 17-3. Anderson led the way with 22 points. Anderson leads the league in scoring with an average of 21.9 points per game and leads Linfield with 7.2 boards per game. As a team, the Wildcats are averaging 68.8 points per game and are being outscored by an average of 10 points per game. Larry Doty is in his 25th year as Linfield head coach and is the longest tenured hoops coach in the conference.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Linfield leads 72-27
AGAINST CLEARY: Linfield leads 2-1
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 76-67 in Forest Grove on Nov. 29, 2011
PUGET SOUND
The Loggers enter the week tied with cross-town rival Pacific Lutheran for fourth in the NWC at 5-3 and are 13-4 overall. After a string of losing four of five games, Puget Sound has righted the ship with two weekend wins. The Loggers broke the losing skid on Friday with a 72-55 win over Linfield. Shooting made the difference as the Loggers made 14 more shots and went 11 of 25 from three-point range. Kaleb Shelton led the Loggers with 18 points. On Saturday, the Loggers rode a big night by Anthony Gittens to hold off Lewis & Clark 76-74. Puget Sound used three free throws by Shelton to hold off a late surge by the Pioneers. Gittens finished with 19 points on 6 of 9 from the field to go along with 14 rebounds, with 17 points and 14 rebounds coming in the first 20 minutes. Gittens leads Puget Sound with an average of 12.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. As a team, the Loggers are averaging 75.9 points per game. The team enters the week ranked first in the NWC in scoring (75.9 ppg), rebounding (40.4 rpg) and rebounding margin (+9.0). Justin Lunt is in his sixth season as Puget Sound head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Puget Sound leads 26-11
AGAINST CLEARY: Puget Sound leads 3-0
LAST MEETING: Puget Sound won 67-61 in Forest Grove on Dec. 2, 2011
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
MAKING HIS WAY ONTO THE RADAR: In earning his first two starts of his college career,
Marc Eppinger (Fr., Camas, Wash.) is showing the type of play that Pacific fans can look forward to over the next three seasons. Eppinger earned his first start against Lewis & Clark on Friday in place of the injured
Dustin Bowser (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.). He scored seven points in 23 minutes and went a perfect 2 of 2 from both the field and the free throw line. Eppinger then led the Boxers in the loss to Pacific Lutheran at home on Saturday, scoring 18 points on 5 of 8 from the field, 1 of 2 from three-point range and 7 of 9 from the free throw line. In fact, Eppinger was perfect for the first 66 minutes of the weekend, not missing a shot until the 14-minute mark of the second half against the Lutes. For the weekend, Eppinger finished with 25 points and went 7 of 10 from rthe field, 2 of 3 from three-point range and 9 of 11 from the free throw line to go along with five rebounds and three steals. The former Camas Papermaker enters the week as the Boxers' fifth leading scorer with an average of 5.6 points per game. His .550 field goal percentage is third best for the Boxers, but he does not meet the minimum of three makes per game to qualify for ranking in the NWC statistics.
ADD FRESHMEN STEPPING UP: With injuries continuing to hamper Pacific at the guard position,
Joey Burns (Fr., Hermiston, Ore.) is getting a chance to show what he can offer. Burns led the Boxers in the loss to Lewis & Clark on Friday, coming off the bench with 11 points. He earned the start on Saturday to replace the injured
Colin Wester (Jr., Sherwood, Ore.), finishing with two points. Burns has appeared in 16 of the Boxers' 17 games this season and enters the week averaging 2.3 points per game.
KEEP WESTER ON THE RADAR: Pacific fans should not expect the team's leading scorer to be on the bench for long.
Colin Wester missed his first game of the season in Saturday's loss to PLU after rolling his ankle in Friday's loss at Lewis & Clark. Wester finished as the Boxers' second leading scorer against the Pioneers, scoring 10 points. Wester enters the week as one of the top scorers in the NWC. He leads the Boxers and ranks eighth in the league with an average of 15.4 points per game. He also enters the week ranked eighth in field goals made (86) and points (246) and ninth in minutes played (32.2 per game) and three-point field goals made (31). Defensively, Wester ranks second in the NWC with 32 steals and 10th with 84 total rebounds.
BOWSER BOWS OUT: The injury bug continues to bite the Boxers hard and has moved from the guard position to the frontcourt. This time it is Dustin Boswer who has gone down for the count after he broke his hand during practice last week. The injury brings the number of starters lost to season-ending injuries this season to three. Bowser was the Boxers' primary presence on the blocks. He leads the team and ranks fourth in the NWC with an average of 7.6 rebounds per game and is the team's fourth leading scorer at 7.4 points per game. He also ranks as one of the most accurate shooters in the league, ranking fifth in the NWC with a field goal percentage of 56.8 percent (46-81).
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.
IN THE NCAA STATS: Pacific is still ranked among NCAA Division III's top-100 in three team categories. In games played through Jan. 19, the Boxers ranked 64th in rebounding margin at +4.9, 66th in field goal percentage at .467 and 83rd with 16.6 personal fouls per game. Individually,
Colin Wester continues to rank 64th among Division III players with 2.3 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 looking forward to finishing up on the Stoller Center home pine. After their upcoming three-game road trip to Linfield, Puget Sound and 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 5-4 record at the Stoller Center.
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.
