Proctor's Late Heroics Write Happy Ending For Boxers
Box Score
HONOLULU, Hawaii –
Coby Proctor's (So., Sublimity, Ore.) lay-in and free throw in the final 30 seconds of overtime Friday punctuated a 74-72 Pacific win over Whittier in the Boxers' first game of the Surf's Up Classic at Kalani High School.
The tightly played overtime period turned the Boxers' way with 1:16 left when
Budweiser Hawkins (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.) hit a short jumper to give Pacific a 71-70 lead and Proctor connected on a lay-in on the next possession to make it a three-point lead. After a Poets' lay-in with under 10 seconds left, Proctor was fouled and converted one of two free throws for a two-point lead. Phillip Thomas' three-pointer at the horn fell short.
Pacific (2-1) overcame a 14-point deficit in the first half to take as much as a three-point lead in the first 30 seconds before Thomas forced overtime with a trey with four seconds to go. The Boxers shot 42.9 percent from the field in the second half, but just 32.9 percent (25-76) for the game.
Danny Brakebush (Fr., Portland, Ore.) paced Pacific with 21 points off the bench.
Colin Wester (Sr., Sherwood, Ore.) scored 13 points while
Dustin Bowser (Sr., Bellingham, Wash.) finished with season's first double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Charles Mosley (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.) came off the bench to score 10. Pacific outrebounded the Poets by a 66-45 margin, which included an impressive 30 offensive boards.
Chris Barnes-William led Whittier (1-2) with 21 points and eight rebounds. Thomas added 15 points and six assists while Aaron Fernandez finished with 11 points. The Poets finished shooting 35.1 percent from the field (26-74).
The story started off rough for the Boxers as the Poets held the team scoreless over the first seven minutes, with Whittier opening up a 9-0 lead on Dylan Irwin free throw at the 13:39 mark.
Daniel Zitani's (Jr., Oakland, Calif.) three-pointer with 10:25 left cut the lead to 13-8 before the Poets went on a 14-5 run over the next six minutes. Thomas canned two free throws with 3:55 to build the 28-14 lead, but Brakebush's trey just a minute later cut the edge back to six points before the Poets went into halftime with a 32-24 advantage.
Whittier opened the lead up to double digits in the second half, going ahead by 12 on Willie Mebane's short jumper a minute into the stanza. The advantage was 11 points when Brakebush's three-pointer started an 8-0 run that brought the Boxers within 42-39 on another Brakebush trey with 14:16 to go.
The Poets led by as much as eight points after that before the Boxers surged and took their first lead of the game, 53-51, on Bowser's five-footer with 5:48 to go. The lead seesawed back and forth before Mosley's free throw with 25 seconds left gave the Boxers a 64-61 lead. With the last possession of regulation after two missed Wester free throws, Thomas canned a three-pointer with four seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Neither team led by more than two points for much of the overtime period before Proctor's lay-in that all but sealed the win for the Boxers.
Pacific will wrap up their Hawaii trip on Saturday with a 1 p.m. (HST) match-up with tournament host Cal Lutheran.
