Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC VS. WHITTIER
Game No. 3/Neutral Site Game No. 2
Fri., Nov. 23, 3 p.m. (HST), Kalani High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
PACIFIC VS. CAL LUTHERAN
Game No. 4/Neutral Site Game No. 3
Sat., Nov. 24, 1 p.m. (HST), Kalani High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
BOXERS TALK TURKEY IN HAWAII FOR THANKSGIVING GAMES
After opening the season with a 1-1 record and a pair of solid performances against Hardin-Simmons and La Verne, the Pacific men's basketball team will continue play against non-conference Division III competition with a pair of games in Hawaii. The Boxers will face off against last year's SCIAC second place team, Whittier, on Friday and against Cal Lutheran on Saturday. Both games will be played at Kalani High School in Honolulu.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific battled back from a 14-point first half deficit to take a pair of slim second half leads against Hardin-Simmons, but the Cowboys outscored the Boxers 9-1 in the final four minutes to take a 73-66 victory.
Colin Wester led all scorers with 19 points.
• In their home opener on Saturday, the Boxers set a single game record by shooting 69.2 percent from the field and made an amazing 82.4 percent of their shots in the second half as Pacific posted a 66-58 win over La Verne.
Charles Mosley came off the bench to lead all players with 21 points and eight rebounds.
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Colin Wester is among the conference leaders after the first two games, averaging 16.5 points per game while shooting 63.2 percent (12-19) from the field. He also ranks among the NWC leaders in both steals and assists.
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Charles Mosley was close to perfect against La Verne on Saturday, going 9 of 11 from the field, making his only three-point shot, and went 2 of 3 from the free throw line. Mosley enters the week among the NWC leaders in scoring, field goal percentage and rebounding.
• After his first two games in a Pacific uniform, Budwesier Hawkins leads the NWC in defensive rebounds and is among the conference leaders in total rebounding and three-point percentage.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
WHITTIER
The Poets of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference enter the week with a 1-0 record. Whittier opened the season on Saturday, scoring a 94-92 overtime victory over Bethesda. The Poets blistered the nets, shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range. Despite their hot shooing, the Poets were tied with Bethesda 80-80 at the end of regulation and needed three free throws by Philip Thomas to win it. Aaron Fernandez led all players with 23 points and eight rebounders while Thomas finished with 21 points. Whittier finished the 2011-12 season with an 18-8 record and second in the SCIAC's regular season standings at 10-4, but lost in the SCIAC tournament semifinals to Pomona-Pitzer. Rock Carter is in his 18th season as Whittier head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Series tied 1-1
AGAINST CLEARY: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 86-73 at Honolulu, Hawaii, on Nov. 29, 2008
CAL LUTHERAN
The Kingsmen of the Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference enter the week with a 0-1 record. They will take on NAIA La Sierra on Monday before making the trip to Hawaii. Cal Lutheran opened the season on Thursday by taking a 56-55 loss to Bethesda at home. The Kingsmen shot just 37.5 percent from the field and saw a seven-point lead evaporate in the final two minutes. Ralph Monday's jumper with one second left won it for Bethesda. Jayvaughn Nettles and Michael Palmer led Cal Lutheran with 13 points each while Jeremy Sulker-Hall pulled down 12 rebounds as Cal Lutheran outrebounded Bethesda 42-30. Last year, Cal Lutheran finished with an 11-13 overall record and fifth place in the SCIAC at 7-7. Rich Rider is in his 18th year as Cal Lutheran head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 3-2
AGAINST CLEARY: Pacific leads 1-0
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 68-53 at Honolulu, Hawaii on Nov. 27, 2010
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
CHARLES IN CHARGE: In the first weekend of his senior season,
Charles Mosley (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.) has certainly come out and impressed. Mosley averaged 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game over the Boxers' first two contests. He enters the week ranked seventh in the NWC in scoring and sixth with his impressive .684 field goal percentage. On the defensive end, Mosley is tied for eighth with his 11 total rebounds and tied for fourth with eight defensive boards. Mosley came off the bench to lead all players with 21 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's win over La Verne. He had a near perfect night, connecting on 9 of 11 from the field and 2 of 4 from the free throw line while making his only three-point attempt. Mosley finished with 10 points in Friday's season opener against Hardin-Simmons.
A RECORD SHOOTING NIGHT: It wasn't until after Saturday's game against La Verne was in the books that anyone realized how well Pacific shot in their home opener. The Boxers finished shooting a single game record 69.2 percent from the field, connecting on 27 of 39 shots. That performance surpassed the record 68.9 percent set against Whitman back on Jan. 24, 1987. Pacific made 13 of 22 in the first half (59.1 percent), but ended up nearly perfect in the second half as the Boxers shot 82.4 percent (14-17). The Boxers also finished the night going 5 of 9 from three-point range.
PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF: Colin Wester (Sr., Sherwood, Ore.) proved that the offseason did little to slow down his game. Wester led the Boxers in scoring column over their first two games, averaging 16.5 points per game. He ranks fifth in the NWC in the category while also ranking third in points (33) and steals (46), tied for eighth in assists (5) and tied for 10th in defensive rebounds (7). He also ranks eighth in the league with a .632 field goal percentage. Wester went 5 of 7 from the field, 2-3 from three-point range and a perfect 2 of 2 from the free throw line and scored 14 points in the Boxers' win over La Verne on Saturday. He also had four assists and two steals in the game. The previous night, Wester led all scorers with 19 points in the Boxers' loss to Hardin-Simmons.
THIS BUD'S FOR YOU: In his first two games in a Pacific uniform, Budwesier Hawkins (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.) is showing the signs of the athleticism that Head Coach
Tim Cleary hoped he would bring to the program. So far, however, that athleticism has been most apparent on the defensive end of the ball. Hawkins enters the week tied for second in the NWC with 14 total rebounds and leads the league with his 13 defensive boards. On the offensive end of the ball, Hawkins is averaging 7.5 points per game, has connected on 54.5 percent of his field goals and 66.7 percent of his three-point shots. Hawkins opened his Pacific career by coming off the bench for nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds in Friday's loss to Hardin-Simmons. The performance earned Hawkins the start on Saturday, where he finished with six points and two rebounds in the victory over La Verne.
ALL-OUT POST PRESENCE: Entering his senior season,
Dustin Bowser's (Sr., Bellingham, Wash.) size, experience and energy are going to play major factors in the Boxers's success. Bowser ended the first weekend by averaging 4.5 points and six rebounds per game, but also showed great energy in his style of play on the floor. Bowser just missed a double-double in the season opener against Hardin-Simmons on Friday, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds. While starting on Saturday, Bowser did not see as much time as Head Coach
Tim Cleary opted for a quicker lineup, scoring three points in 14 minutes as the Boxers claimed the 66-58 victory. Bowser enters the week ranked eighth in the NWC in rebounding, averaging six per game. He is also tied for fifth with his three steals and tied for second with his two blocked shots in the young season.
ADDED POST PRESENCE: Of Pacific's newly added post players, none made as big of an impact in the first weekend as
Daniel Zitani (Jr., Oakland, Calif.). The junior transfer finished in first week in red and black averaging 8.5 points points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Zitani earned his first start on Saturday in the victory over La Verne and delivered, finishing with 15 points, three rebounds, one assist and a block. He went 6 of 10 from the field and 3 of 4 from the free throw line, all the while showing his speed and ball-handling ability. Zitani joins the Pacific program after two seasons at Diablo Valley JC in Pleasant Hill, Calif.
ALL HOME GAMES TO BE VIDEO STREAMED: For the first time, Pacific will provide a live video stream of all 10 home men's basketball games as well as all 10 home women's basketball games. The stream can be accessed by visiting goboxers.com/webcasts. The stream for non-conference games will be provided without play-by-play audio. Matt Richert will return to the microphone to play descriptions for the Boxers' Northwest Conference contests this season.
CLEARY APPEARING ON WEEKLY SMALL COLLEGE HOOPS PODCAST: Head Coach
Tim Cleary will be one of five coaches to be regularly featured on a new Portland small college basketball podcast hosted by Comcast SportsNet NW hoops analyst Greg Crawford. The Portland Metro Small College Hoops podcast runs live every Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. the live stream and archived podcasts can be accessed at www.blogtalkradio.com/smallcollegehoops.
PACIFIC PICKED EIGHTH IN NWC PRESEASON POLL: Northwest Conference coaches have picked Pacific to finish eighth in the league this season according to results of the annual coaches poll, released on Monday. The Boxers received 20 of a possible 80 votes in the poll, finishing seven points of ahead of Willamette, who was selected ninth. Linfield was selected seventh with 22 points while George Fox is four points ahead of the Boxers, picked to finish sixth. Whitworth was picked to win their fourth consecutive NWC title, gaining seven first place votes and a total of 70 points. Whitman is selected to finish second with 54 points, including two first place votes.
