Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT PACIFIC LUTHERAN
Game No. 24/Away Game No. 11
Fri., Feb. 17, 8 p.m., Olson Auditorium, Tacoma, Waah.
Live Stats:
www.plu.edu/athletics-stats/mbball/livestats/xlive
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
LEWIS & CLARK AT PACIFIC
Game No. 25/Home Game No. 13
Sat., Feb. 18, 8 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
Live Audio:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
BOXERS PREPARE FOR SEASON FINALE THIS WEEKEND
The injury-plagued Pacific men's basketball season comes to an end this weekend as the Boxers will continue to aim for that elusive 10th win of the season. The Boxers finish off their road schedule on Friday at Pacific Lutheran before coming home for senior night on Saturday against Lewis & Clark. Saturday's contest will be the final game for two Pacific seniors.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific put together a season-best shooting performance in the first half against Whitman on Friday, shooting 58.3 percent from the floor. The Missionaries stormed back to outscore the Boxers 48-34 in the final 20 minutes to stun the Boxers 78-71. Pacific shot 48 percent from the field for the game, led by 19 points from
Colin Wester.
• No. 9 ranked Whitworth shot 64 percent in the first half on Saturday, hitting on 18 of 28 from the floor, en route to a 76-54 win over the Boxers.
David Berney was the only Pacific player to score in double figures, finishing with 14 points.
•
David Berney put together hit two best scoring performances of the conference season, scoring 18 against Whitman and 14 against Whitworth. Berney finished shooting 62.5 percent from the field, 60 percent from three-point range and 87.5 percent from the free throw line in the two games. He enters the week ranked ninth in the NWC in three-point percentage (.388).
•
Colin Wester enters the week as one of the top scorers in the Northwest Conference. His team-leading 15.4 points per game ranks seventh and his 41 steals is third best in the league.
• Saturday's game will be the last for
Robby Babek, the only senior on the active roster for the Boxers. The team will also honor
Carson Bartlett in Senior Night ceremonies. Bartlett was lost for the season in October with a knee injury.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
PACIFIC LUTHERAN
The Lutes enter the week tied for fifth place with Lewis & Clark in the NWC at 7-7 and are 10-13 overall. PLU is in the midst of a four-game losing streak, having dropped a pair of road games last week. On Tuesday, the Lutes managed just 35.2 percent shooting from the field in a 66-52 loss to crosstown rival Puget Sound. PLU had a chance to keep it close at the free throw line, but shot just 12-21 from the stripe. Cameron Schilling led the Lutes with nine points. PLU dropped into that fifth place tie on Saturday when they took a 63-53 road loss to the Pioneers. PLU owned the lead throughout the first half before L&C took control in the second half, outscoring the Lutes 36-25 in the final 20 minutes. PLU shot 34.4 percent from the field, led by a 14-point effort from James Conti. Conti leads the PLU offense with an average of 13.5 points per game, while Schilling is just behind at 13.4 points per game. Schilling is the Lutes' leading rebounder at 6.9 boards per game. As a team, PLU is averaging 69.7 points per game and is outscoring opponents by an average of three points per game. The Lutes are first in the NWC in turnovers, giving the ball up 11.1 times per game. Steve Dickerson is in his sixth season as Pacific Lutheran head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific Lutheran leads 60-30
AGAINST CLEARY: PLU leads 2-1
LAST MEETING: Pacific Lutheran won 77-56 at Forest Grove on Jan. 21, 2012
LEWIS & CLARK
The Pioneers enter the week tied for fifth in the NWC with Pacific Lutheran at 7-7 and are 12-11 overall. Lewis & Clark enters the week have lost three of their last five games and split a pair of games last week. In a rare Thursday night contest, the Pioneers shot just 36 percent from the field as they were stunned by Willamette 79-70. The Bearcats shot 52.6 percent from the floor, bolting out to a 40-32 lead that held up. Ross Erickson led Lewis & Clark with 22 points. L&C rebounded on Saturday to beat Pacific Lutheran 63-53. The Pioneers trailed 28-27 at halftime, but came back to shoot 48 percent from the field and 76.9 percent from the free throw line. P.J. Taylor led the way for the Pioneers with 16 points. James Hollins leads the Lewis & Clark offense with an average of 15.7 points per game. He is one of three L&C players to average double figures in scoring. Erickson is the team's leading rebounder with 6.8 boards per game. As a team, Lewis & Clark is averaging 72.2 points per game and is outscoring opponents by an average of 1.2 points per game. Dinari Foreman is in his first year as Lewis & Clark head coach, having inherited the reins this season from longtime head coach Bob Gaillard.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Lewis & Clark leads 65-33
AGAINST CLEARY: Lewis & Clark leads 3-0
LAST MEETING: Lewis & Clark won 84-50 in Portland on Jan. 20, 2012
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
A GREAT WEEKEND FOR BERNEY: David Berney (Jr., Eugene, Ore.) put together his best back-to-back games of the season for the Boxers in their two weekend games against the “Whits.” Berney was the Boxers' second leading scorer with 18 points on 6 of 10 from the field and 4 of 7 from three-point range. It was his best scoring performance since his Pacific debut 27-point effort in the Nov. 15 season opener against Evergreen State. The next night, Berney provided a bright spot in a dismal shooting performance with his team-high 14 points in the loss to No. 9 Whitworth on Saturday. Berney's line for the week included 32 points on 62.5 percent shooting from the field (10-16), 60 percent from three-point range (6-10) and 6 of 7 from the charity stripe. Berney enters the week as the Boxers' third leading scorer, averaging 10.3 points per game. He ranks as the Boxers' top three-point shooter and ranks ninth in the NWC at 38.8 percent.
COLIN ALL SHOOTERS: Colin Wester (Jr., Sherwood, Ore.) has shown little signs of wear from his three games off with injury. Wester led Pacific with 19 points in Friday's loss to Whitman, connecting on 6 of 14 from the field and 5 of 7 from the free throw line. He added eight points in the loss to Whitworth on Saturday. Wester continues to rank as the Boxers' leading scorer and ranks seventh in the NWC with an average of 15.4 points per game. He also ranks third in the league with 41 steals, adding four over the last two games, and is 10th in minutes played with an average of 32 minutes per contest.
PRESENCE IN THE MIDDLE: He is admittedly in pain, but the presence of
Dustin Bowser (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) has been a difference in the Boxers' ability to be competitive in their weekend games against Whitman and Whitworth. Bowser finished with seven points and game-highs of eight rebounds and two blocks against Whitman on Friday, gutting through pain to his shooting hand to hit 5 of 8 from the free throw line. Bowser added four points and five rebounds in the loss to Whitworth. Despite missing five games with a broken shooting hand, Bowser continues to rank as one of the top rebounders in the NWC. He leads the Boxers and ranks in a tie for fourth in the league with an average of 6.9 rebounds per game. Bowser ranks fifth in offensive rebounds with 49, eighth in total rebounds at 131 and 10th in defensive rebounds with 82. In addition, Bowser is tied for eighth in the NWC with his 14 blocks.
PROCTORING THE OFFENSE: Ever since stepping into a starting point guard role with the season-ending injury to
Andrew Beatty (Sr., Lynnwood, Wash.),
Coby Proctor (Fr., Sublimity, Ore.) has held fairly steady in his work leading the Pacific offense. Proctor came through to score 10 points in the loss to Whitman on Friday, to go along with three assists. On Saturday against No. 9 Whitworth, Prctor finished with six oints to go along with three assists and a steal. Proctor has started 17 of the Boxers' 23 games this season, with all of his starts coming since Beatty's injury on Nov. 26. He is averaging 4.4 points per game.
SENIOR SALUTE: At Saturday night's game against Lewis & Clark, Pacific will honor two seniors who are wrapping their careers with the Boxers' men's basketball program.
Carson Bartlett (Sr., St. Helens, Ore.) was unable to compete during the 2011-12 season due to a season-ending knee injury incurred on the first day of practice. Bartlett was the only player to start all 25 games in 2010-11 in Head Coach
Tim Cleary's first season. He finished second for the Boxers with an average of 13.5 points per game and a .473 field goal percentage. Bartlett started 14 of 24 games during the 2009-10 season after missing most of the previous campaign with a knee injury. Bartlett scored 689 points in an 80-game career, averaging 8.6 points per game and shooting 42.6 percent from the field.
Robby Babek (Sr., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) has spent four years as a relied upon presence off the bench at forward. Babek has played in 22 games this season, making starts against Puget Sound on Jan. 28 and George Fox on Feb. 3. He is averaging 1.3 points and 1.0 rebounds per game after posting season highs of 1.8 points and 1.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore. For hsi career, Babek is averaging 1.2 points and 1.0 rebounds per game.
CHECKING THE MEDICAL CHART: The return of both
Colin Wester and
Dustin Bowser to the lineup go a long ways to helping Pacific get over what has been an injury-laden of the season. Even still, the Boxers will remain without two key players for the season.
Carson Bartlett never saw the floor after he suffered a season-ending injury knee injury on the first day of practice.
Andrew Beatty (Sr., Lynnwood, Wash.) went down after the third game of the season with a broken wrist. In all, at least six of the Boxers' 16 rostered players have missed significant time this season due to injury. Five of those have been either part-time or regular starters.
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: In the Monday edition of the NCAA Division III statistics report (including games played through Sunday),
Colin Wester ranked 91st among Division III players with 2.1 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 happy to be back on the Stoller Center home pine. The Boxers will close the season with four of their final five games in Forest Grove, ending with Saturday's match-up with Lewis & Clark. Pacific currently owns a 6-6 record at the Stoller Center. Before the home string, Pacific had played 10 of their last 12 games on the road.
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.
