Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT SIMPSON (CALIF.)
Game No. 7/Away Game No. 2
Mon., Dec. 17, 7 p.m., Heritage Student Life Center, Redding, Calif.
Live Video:
www.ustream.tv/channel/simpson-basketball
PACIFIC AT UC SANTA CRUZ
Game No. 8/Away Game No. 3
Wed., Dec. 19, 7 p.m., West Field House, Santa Cruz, Calif.
PACIFIC AT WALLA WALLA
Game No. 9/Home Game No. 3
Sat., Dec. 29, 6 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
Live Video:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
BOXERS TAKE LITTLE BREAK OVER THE HOLIDAYS
The Pacific men's basketball team will take little in the way of a break over the Christmas Break as the Boxers have three games scheduled over the next two weeks. The Boxers open a two-game California road trip tonight at Simpson (Calif.) before finishing at UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday. Pacific will then play one home game after Christmas, hosting Walla Walla on Sat., Dec. 29.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific rebounded from a three-point halftime deficit to outscore Simpson (Calif.) 53-34 in the final 20 minutes to score an 80-64 victory over the Redhawks on Nov. 28.
Colin Wester led the Boxers with 24 points and Pacific had more offensive rebounds (25) than Simpson had defensive rebounds (24).
• In their last game before finals, Pacific saw a lead disappear in the final minutes as the Boxers lost at Walla Walla 69-65. Pacific held a 35-21 halftime lead, but the Wolves outscored the Boxers 48-30 in the second half.
Danny Brakebush led the Boxers with 19 points on 7 of 11 from the field and 3 of 4 from three-point range.
• Pacific enters the week ranked No. 5 among Division III schools in rebounding margin at +11.5. The Boxers are also ranked second and No. 72 nationally in field goal defense, allowing opponents just 39.8 percent.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
SIMPSON (CALIF.)
The NAIA Division II Redhawks enter the week with a 3-10 record. Since their 80-64 loss at Pacific on Nov. 28, Simpson has gone 1-2 over the last two weeks. On Nov. 30, the Redhawks scored a 76-69 win over The Master's. Ian Corella led the way with 30 points, which included 10 of 12 from the free throw line. Guy Varsek added 14 points while Jordan Collins had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Simpson returned to the floor on Dec. 8, taking an 87-79 loss to No. 16 (NAIA II) ranked Southern Oregon. Corella once again led the Redhawks with 17 points while Johnnie Washburn and Dalton Thacker each had 15 points. Simpson then took an 80-52 loss to NCAA Division II Chico State on Saturday. The Wildcats vaulted out to a 42-18 halftime lead that the Redhawks never recovered from. Washburn and Corella each had nine points to lead Simpson. Varsek leads the Simpson offense, averaging 15.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. As a team, Simpson is averaging 69.2 points and 36.8 rebounds per game and is being outscored by an average of 10 points per game. Matt Thacker is the Simpson head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 1-0
AGAINST CLEARY: Pacific leads 1-0
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 80-64 in Forest Grove on Nov. 28, 2012
UC SANTA CRUZ
The NCAA Division III independent Banana Slugs enter the week with a 3-9 record. After scoring a convincing 80-64 win over George Fox on Nov. 17, Santa Cruz has gone 2-8 and split their games on last weekend's Southern California road trip. On Saturday, the Slugs escaped with a narrow 68-63 win at Caltech. The lowly Beavers held as much as an eight-point lead in the first half before the Slugs came back to take an 11-point lead with three minutes left to go and then held off a Beavers' rally for the win. Trent Reeves led the Banana Slugs with 18 points. The Slugs also played Cal Lutheran tough with the Kingsmen holding on for the 56-51 win. UC Santa Cruz held a 30-25 lead only to see Cal Lutheran outscore them 31-21 in the second half. Jared Ponce led the Slugs with 14 points. Townsend leads the UC Santa Cruz offense, averaging 10.7 points per game while Reeves is averaging 10 points per game. Both players also lead the team in rebounding with 5.3 boards per contest. As a team, UC Santa Cruz is averaging 59.2 points and 34.1 rebounds per game and is being outscored by an average of 16 points per game. Ron DuBois is in his first season as UC Santa Cruz head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: First Meeting
AGAINST CLEARY: First Meeting
WALLA WALLA
The Wolves, a NAIA Division II independent, enter the week with a 2-15 record, but have won two of their last four games since knocking off Pacific in College Place, Wash., 69-65. Walla Walla split a pair of games with NAIA Montana Tech on Dec. 8 and 9. The Wolves fell to the Orediggers 91-61 on Dec. 8, but rebounded to score a 79-77 overtime win the next night. Tristan Greenidge led the Wolves in the victory with 25 points on 10 of 12 from the field. On Saturday, Walla Walla took a 91-47 loss to Division I Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals shot 61.5 percent from the field in the first half and never looked back. Ryan Spady led the Wolves with 14 points, with eight of those coming from the free throw line. Greenidge lead the Walla Walla offense, averaging 13.2 points per game. Miguel Martinez is averaging 6.6 rebounds per game. As a team, Walla Walla is averaging 56.7 points and 36 rebounds per game and is being outscored by an average of 21 points per game. Jimmy Hill is Walla Walla's head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 2-1
AGAINST CLEARY: Pacific leads 2-1
LAST MEETING: Walla Walla won 69-65 in College Place, Wash., on Dec. 2, 2012
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
BREAK OUT BRAKEBUSH: As he has progressed through the first six games of his college career,
Danny Brakebush (Fr., Portland, Ore.) has proven to be every bit the scoring threat that Head Coach
Tim Cleary hoped that he would be. The Central Catholic product enters the week ranked sixth in the NWC in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game to lead the Boxers. Brakebush has also emerged early as one of the best three-point shooters in the nation at the NCAA Division III level. Through games played by dec. 9, Brakebush ranked ninth nationally with a .529 three-point percentage and 38th with an average of three three-pointers made per game. Brakebush led the Boxers with 19 points in the loss on Dec. 2 to Walla Walla and also had 14 points in the Nov. 28 victory over Simpson (Calif.). Brakebush was selected as the NWC Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week for the week of Nov. 19-25 after he scored 18 points against Whittier on Nov. 23 and 25 points against Cal Lutheran on No.v 24, both Pacific wins in Hawaii.
COLIN POURS IT IN: Colin Wester (Sr., Sherwood, Ore.) is continuing to be a scoring presence that the Boxers can depend upon to be consistent game in and game out. The senior led the Boxers with his best effort of the season against Simpson (Calif.) on Nov. 28, scoring 24 points on 7 of 12 from the field with five three-pointers. He also added 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Wester then had a performance of seven points and six rebounds in the Dec. 2 loss to Walla Walla. Wester, a Honorable Mention All-NWC selection last season, enters the week second in scoring for the Boxers and eighth in the NWC with an average of 13.8 points per game. He also enters the week tied for fifth in the NWC with an average of seven rebounds per game.
BOARD MEETING: The combination of some added height, along with a number of players who are playing bigger than their size, have helped the Boxers improve in the rebounding department. Pacific enters the week ranked third in the NWC with an average of 41.5 rebounds per game and are third in the league with averages of 14.3 offensive rebounds and 27.2 defensive rebounds per game. The Boxers' +11.5 rebounding margin not only leads the NWC, but also ranked fifth in Division III through games played by Dec. 9. In Pacific's win over Simpson (Calif.) on Nov. 28, Pacific out-rebounded the Redhawks 58-32 and had more offensive rebounds (25) than Simpson did defensive rebounds (24).
Dustin Bowser (Sr., Bellingham, Wash.) leads four Pacific players to rank in the NWC's top-10 in rebounding, ranking second with his average of 7.3 rebounds per game.
Charles Mosley (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.),
Colin Wester and
Daniel Zitani (Jr., Oakland, Calif.) are all tied for fifth with an average of five rebounds per game.
STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT: Pacific hopes that the strong start that they have experienced in their non-conference season will continue as they close the month of December. Pacific's 4-2 start matches the start the Boxers had last season, a streak that saw the Boxers start the season with six home games. The last time that Pacific started 4-2 was in the 2005-06 season in Jason Lowery's first season as head coach.
HOMECOMING FOR CLEARY: Monday's game at Simspon (Calif.) will be a homecoming for third year Head Coach
Tim Cleary. Cleary grew up in Redding, Calif., and his parents continue to make their home in Redding. It is the first time that Cleary will have coached a game in his hometown in his coaching career and it is just the second time that the Boxers will have faced the NAIA Division II Redhawks all-time (the first coming earlier this season on Nov. 28).
A RECORD SHOOTING NIGHT: It wasn't until after the Nov. 17 home 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.
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 is one of five coaches 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.
