Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT WHITWORTH
Game No. 14/Away Game No. 5
Fri., Jan. 13, 8 p.m., Whitworth Fieldhouse, Spokane, Wash.
Live Stats:
http://bit.ly/5D9v9v
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
Live Video:
http://bit.ly/6Ngf8a
PACIFIC AT WHITMAN
Game No. 15/Away Game No. 6
Sat., Jan. 14, 8 p.m., Sherwood Center, Walla Walla, Wash.
Live Stats:
www.whitman.edu/athletics/livestats/xlive.htm
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
Live Video:
client.stretchinternet.com/client/whitman.portal#
TOUGHEST ROAD TRIP OF THE SEASON AWAITS BOXERS
After splitting their weekend games on their return to Northwest Conference play, the Pacific men's basketball is prepping for the toughest road trip of the season. The Boxers take the long bus ride to eastern Washington for their annual Inland Empire matchups with No. 11 ranked Whitworth and an impressive Whitman squad.
BOXER BYTES
• A change to the starting lineup paid dividends for the Boxers on Friday as they returned to NWC play with a 78-66 victory over Willamette. The Boxers shot 51.7 percent for the game, led by 23 points by
Colin Wester. Four Pacific players finished scoring in double figures, and three registered double-doubles.
• Despite shooting 44 percent in their first home game in three weeks, Pacific could not get past poor free throw shooting and solid three-point presence by George Fox in a 61-53 loss to the Bruins on Saturday.
David Berney came off the bench to score 15 points to lead the Boxers. Pacific shot just 25 percent from the three-point line and 42.9 percent from the charity stripe.
•
Cameron Hayes and
Ernesto Mayz made their first starts of the year for the Boxers on Friday. Hayes came off the bench in 24 games last year and made four starts as a freshman. Mayz missed all of the 2010-11 season with a broken foot.
• Pacific continues to rank as one of the top shooting teams in the conference. The Boxers enter the week ranked second in field goal percentage and ranked 92nd in the nation in the last NCAA Division III statistical report (released Jan. 5). Dustin Boswer,
David Berney and
Charles Mosley all rank in the NWC top-10 in field goal percentage.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
WHITWORTH
The high-powered Pirates enter the week with an 11-2 overall record and a unblemished 4-0 NWC record. They moved up to No. 10 in this week's D3Hoops.com Top 25 Poll after sweeping the Tacoma schools on the road last weekend. On Friday, the Pirates went two overtimes before finally beating Pacific Lutheran 103-94. Whitworth shot 72 percent in the first half, only to see the Lutes come back with a 20-7 run at the end of regulation. Felix Friedt hit a three-pointer with 46 seconds left in the second overtime for the win. Idris Lasisi led six Whitworth players in double figures with 20 points. Friedt finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. On Saturday, the Pirates trailed No. 16 Puget Sound 41-38 at halftime, but shot 50 percent from the field and 11 of 15 from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes to move on an 80-67 win. Friedt finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Lasisi scored 21. Friedt leads Whitworth with an average of 18.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. He leads the NWC in rebounding and ranks second in scoring. As a team, Whitworth leads the NWC in scoring (77.2 points per game), field goal percentage (.482) free throw percentage (.785), assists (13.9 per game) and turnovers (11.6 per game) and is ranked second in three-point percentage (.397). The Pirates are outscoring their opponents by an average of 13 points per game. Matt Logie is in his first year as Whitworth head coach. He replaces Jim Hayford, who left after the 2010-11 season to become head coach at Division I Eastern Washington.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Whitworth leads 45-23
AGAINST CLEARY: Whitworth leads 2-0
LAST MEETING: Whitworth won 84-45 at Forest Grove on Feb. 19, 2011
WHITMAN
The Missionaries enter the tied for third in the NWC with the Boxers and three other teams at 2-2 and are 9-4 overall. Whitman finished off the weekend with a road split with the Tacoma schools. On Friday they took a close 68-63 loss to No. 16 Puget Sound. The Loggers went on an 8-1 run late in the second half to secure the win. The Missionaries shot 32.9 percent for the game, led by an 18-point, 11-rebound performance by David Michaels. LuQuam Thompson came off the bench to score 15. On Saturday, the Missionaries needed an Ignas Pavilonis three-pointer and a Matt Mournier free throw to net a 58-57 win at Pacific Lutheran. The trey and free throw allowed Whitman to pull away from a 55-55 tie with 1:14 to go. Michaels led Whitman with 19 points. Michaels leads the Missionaries with averages of 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. As a team, Whitman is averaging 71.5 points per game and outscoring opponents by an average of 11 points per game. Eric Bridgeland is in his fourth year as Whitman head coach after stops at Puget Sound and Pepperdine.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 54-38
AGAINST CLEARY: Series tied 1-1
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 59-55 in Forest Grove on Feb. 18, 2011
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
A PRESENCE UNDERNEATH: Even when in foul trouble,
Dustin Bowser (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) still finds a way to make an impact. After being sat for much of the first half with three fouls on Saturday against George Fox, Boswer returned to score the Boxers' first six points of the second half, which allowed the home team to go up by one early in the stanza. Bowser finished the game with six points and six rebounds in 22 minutes of action. The night before, Bowser notched his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the Boxers' win over Willamette. A transfer from Whatcom CC, Bowser has been an immediate impact player. His 7.9 rebounds per game leads the Boxers and ranks sixth in the Northwest Conference. He ranks second in the league in offensive rebounds (36), sixth in total rebounds (96) and seventh in defensive rebounds (60). The Boxers' most accurate shooter, Bowser ranked fourth in the NWC with a field goal percentage of 58.3 percent.
STEPPING UP AGAIN: In a game where Head Coach
Tim Cleary was looking for a person to step up in the scoring department,
Colin Wester (Jr., Sherwood, Ore.) did so again. Wester came up with another big performance in the victory over Willamette, scoring a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds, connecting on 10 of 18 from the field. He led an effort that saw four Pacific players score in double figures for the game, which included double-doubles for
Dustin Bowser,
Charles Mosley (Jr., HIllsboro, Ore.) and
David Berney (Jr., Eugene, Ore.). Wester continues to be the Boxers' most prolific scorer in 2011-12. He leads Pacific and ranks sixth in the NWC with an average of 15.5 points per game. He ranks fourth in total field goals made (71) and ninth in three-point field goals made (27). In addition, Wester ranks second in the NWC in steals (29) and is tied for seventh in assists (32).
REBOUNDING PRESENCE: While still considerably smaller than most of their Northwest Conference counterparts, the Boxers still manage to bang the boards fairly well. Pacific enters the week averaging 34.8 rebounds per game. The Boxers are fourth in the NWC in offensive rebounds with 11.6 per game, which includes an impressive 18 offensive boards in the win on Friday against Willamette.
Dustin Bowser leads the team and ranks sixth in the NWC with an average of 7.4 rebounds per game, but two other Boxers are sitting just outside of the NWC's top-10.
Charles Mosley ranks 11th in the NWC with an average of 5.5 boards per game while
Colin Wester is 12th with an average of 5.4 rebounds per game.
BREAKING INTO THE STARTING FIVE: As Head Coach
Tim Cleary continues to tinker with the guards in his starting lineup, two players made their first appearance in the top five this weekend.
Cameron Hayes (So., Milton, Wash.) made his first starts of the season against Willamette and George Fox after having seen reserve action in eight of the Boxers' previous 10 games. Hayes enters the week averaging 1.6 points per game. Hayes played in 24 games last year and made four starts.
Ernesto Mayz (So., Caracas, Venezuela) saw his first Pacific starts against the Bearcats and Bruins. The transfer from Cascade College, by way of Portland CC, had appeared in seven games prior to the weekend. He missed all of the 2010-11 season with a broken foot.
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. 5). The Boxers ranked 39th in scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of 61.3 points per game. Only Whitman is holding opponents to less points, ranking 28th with an average of 59.9 points allowed per game. Rose-Hulman leads Division III with an average defense of 52.9 points per game.
ALSO IN THE NCAA STATS: As a team, Pacific also ranked 54th nationally in personal fouls (16.0 per game), 86th in turnovers per game (13.7), 92nd in field goal percentage (.462) and 95th in rebound margin (3.). 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.
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.
