Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT WHITMAN
Game No. 19/Away Game No. 8
Fri., Feb. 1, 8 p.m., Sherwood Center, Walla Walla, Wash.
Live Stats:
www.whitman.edu/athletics/livestats/xlive.htm
Live Audio Webcast:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
Live Video Webcast:
client.stretchinternet.com/client/whitman.portal#
PACIFIC AT WHITWORTH
Game No. 20/Away Game No. 9
Sat., Feb. 2, 8 p.m., Whitworth Fieldhouse, Spokane, Wash.
Live Stats:
bit.ly/WsNAzm
Live Audio Webcast:
www.goboxers.com/webcasts
KEY GAMES AWAIT BOXERS ON EASTERN WASHINGTON TRIP
After making it through a tough three-game week with a 2-1 record, the Pacific men's basketball team faces a pair of key games on the annual eastern Washington road trip. The Boxers will look to keep pace in the Northwest Conference playoff race with games at Whitman on Friday and nationally-ranked Whitworth on Saturday.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific opened the three-game week with a win over George Fox on the road on Tuesday, winning 77-69. The Boxers shot 44.4 percent from the field and 81.3 percent from the free throw line.
Colin Wester led five Boxers to score in double figures with 20 points.
• On Friday, Pacific bounced back from a dismal first half offensive performance to outscore Willamette 57-52 in the second half and overtime to score a 97-96 victory.
Colin Wester and
Danny Brakebush combined to score 32 points over the final 25 minutes, with Wester leading the way with his Pacific season-high 28 points.
• In the rematch with the Bruins at the Stoller Center on Saturday, Pacific could not stop a 51 percent shooting performance by George Fox as the visitors went on to win 85-76 and snapped the Boxers' three-game win streak.
Charles Mosley had his best performance since November, scoring 18 points to lead the Boxers.
• With Friday's win at Willamette, Pacific reached the 11-win plateau for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Boxers need two more wins to secure their first winning season since the 1999-2000 campaign.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
WHITMAN
The fast-paced Missionaries enter the week tied with George Fox for third place in the NWC at 6-4 and stand at 12-7 overall. After string of four losses in five games, Whitman has won three of their last four over the last two weeks. On Friday, a 22-point performance by Matt Mounier was not enough to hold off a 46 percent shooting night by Pacific Lutheran as the Lutes won 74-68. The Missionaries shot just 35.5 percent from the field. Whitman rebounded on Saturday to score an 89-62 victory over Puget Sound. Mounier turned in another high-scoring performance, scoring 18 points on 6 of 10 from the field with three three-pointers. Whitman finished the night shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 47 percent from three-point range. They also forced 26 Puget Sound turnovers. Ben Eisenhardt leads the Whitman offense, averaging 16.2 points per game, while Mounier is averaging 14.6 points per game. As a team, Whitman leads the NWC with their average of 91.5 points per game and are outscoring teams by an average of 12 points per game. They are shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 72.1 percent from the free throw line. Eric Bridgeland is in his sixth season as Whitman head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 53-41
AGAINST CLEARY: Whitman leads 4-1
LAST MEETING: Whitman won 76-65 in Forest Grove on Jan. 5, 2013
WHITWORTH
The surging Pirates enter the week with an 18-1 overall record and own a three-game lead over Lewis & Clark in the NWC standings with a 10-0 record. Whitworth was ranked No. 4 in last week's D3Hoops.com Top-25 Poll and stand to keep the spot after winning both weekend games. The Pirates rolled in their first win on Friday, taking a 62-53 win from Puget Sound. Whitworth held off an early second half run that saw the Loggers take a 35-31 lead by outscoring Puget Sound 36-24 in the final 20 minutes. George Valle led the Pirates with 15 points as they shot just 39.3 percent from the floor. Pacific Lutheran gave the Pirates a run for their money on Saturday, using Dustin McConnell's basket with 25 seconds left to edge out the Lutes 71-68. Neither team led by more than six points the entire way as again the Pirates shot 50 percent from the field. McConnell led Whitworth with 17 points on 5 of 10 from the field. He leads the Pirates in the season box score with an average of 13.7 points per game. Taylor Farnsworth is the team's leading rebounder at 5.2 rebounds per game. As a team, Whitworth is averaging 76.1 points and 33.5 rebounds per game and shooting 49.6 percent from the field. Matt Logie is in his second season as Whitworth head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Whitworth leads 46-24
AGAINST CLEARY: Whitworth leads 5-0
LAST MEETING: Whitworth won 80-77 in Forest Grove on Jan. 4, 2013
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
GO WESTER, YOUNG MAN: The three games in one week did little to tire out
Colin Wester (Sr., Sherwood, Ore.). Instead, the senior guard posted one of his best stretches of the season. Wester led the Boxers in scoring in their two wins last week. On Tuesday, he finished with 20 points to go along with three assists in the 77-69 win over George Fox. On Friday, Wester posted a Pacific season-high 28 points on 10 of 22 from the field in the 97-96 overtime win over Willamette on Friday. He also added four rebounds, two assists and four steals. Wester finished the week averaging 19.7 points, 2.3 steals and 1.7 assists per game. The 2011-12 Honorable Mention All-NWC selection enters the week ranked second for the Boxers and sixth in the NWC with his average of 15.1 points per game. He also ranks fifth in the NWC in steals (30), sixth in assists (51) and ninth in rebounding (5.4 per game).
TAKE A BOW(SER): Dustin Bowser's (Sr., Bellingham, Wash.) string of solid performances last week proved to be key for the Boxers. Bowser opened the week with his third double-double of the season on Tuesday, finishing with 11 points, 11 rebounds and a pair of blocks in the win over George Fox. He added a 17-point, nine-rebound performance at Willamette on Friday and 12 points in the loss to the Bruins on Saturday. While coming off the bench over the last 11 games, Bowser has continued to be a key factor in the Boxers' front court. He enters the week ranked fifth in the NWC in rebounding, averaging 6.8 per game. He also ranks sixth in the NWC with his 16 blocked shots. His season box score includes swats in five of his last six games and five games this season with two blocks. Bowser also continues to be one of the most accurate shooters in the league. His field goal percentage of .573 ranks fourth in the NWC. Offensively, Bowser has scored in double digits in five of the Boxers' last six games.
DANNY'S NOT HITTING THE BRAKES: The Boxers' leading scorer is far from slowing down as the second half of the NWC season commences.
Danny Brakebush (Fr., Portland, Ore.) kept pace with
Colin Wester in the Boxers' two wins last week. He scored 15 points, all on three-pointers, in the Boxers' victory over George Fox on Tuesday. On Friday, Brakebush scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and overtime to help lift the Boxers to the overtime win over Willamette. He connected on 8 of 20 from the field and hit three three-pointers. Brakebush was kept quite quiet against the Bruins on Saturday. His five points marked his first single-digit scoring performance since Dec. 17. Brakebush enters the week leading the Boxers and ranked fifth in the NWC with his average of 16.1 points per game. He leads the NWC with 54 three-point field goals made and a .446 three-point percentage. In last Thursday's NCAA Division III statistical report, Brakebush was ranked 11th in three-pointers per game (3.13), 15th in three-point percentage (.463) and 91st in free throw percentage (.824).
CHUCKIN' IT IN: Charles Mosley (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.) did his part to keep Pacific in their game against George Fox on Saturday. Mosley put together his second best scoring effort of the season, scoring 18 points on 8 of 17 from the field in the loss to the Bruins. He also finished with seven rebounds and scored 12 of his 18 in the first half. Mosley has performed well as of late in his role as the Boxers' starting small forward. He enters the week ranked third for the Boxers in scoring, averaging 9.2 points per game, and is fourth for the team in rebounding with an average of 5.3 boards per contest. He ranks fourth in the NWC in offensive rebounds with a total of 39.
MAJOR MILESTONE IN THE CLEARY ERA: The improvement of the Pacific men's basketball team in 2012-13 is showing in the win/loss column. The Boxers' 11 wins so far this season mark the first time that the Boxers have won 11 games since the 2007-08 season. In addition, the Boxers need two victories in their final seven games to secure their first winning season since the 1999-2000 NCAA Division III playoff season.
CLEANING THE GLASS: The Boxers continue to be one of the league's best teams on the backboards. Pacific enters the week ranked fourth in total rebounding with an average of 38.4 rebounds per game and are outrebounding teams by an average of eight boards per contest. Pacific is ranked second in the NWC in offensive rebounds, averaging 14 per game. The Boxers continue to rank three players in the NWC's individual top-10 in rebounding.
Dustin Bowser ranked fifth at 6.8 boards per game.
Colin Wester ranks ninth at 5.4 rebounds per game and
Daniel Zitani (Jr., Oakland, Calif.) ranks 10th at 5.3 rebounds per game. In the Jan. 24 NCAA Division III stats report, the Boxers ranked 16th in rebounding margin at +8.1.
TOUGH GOING ON THE PALOUSE SWING: Pacific will aim this week to snap a nine-game losing streak on the long eastern Washington road trip. The Boxers' last win on the swing was on Jan. 11, 2008, when the Boxers scored a 70-50 win over Whitman.
BRAKEBUSH SELECTED TO D3HOOPS.COM TEAM OF THE WEEK: Danny Brakebush's impressive performances against Pacific Lutheran on Jan. 11 and Linfield on Jan. 12 earned the freshman guard selection selection to the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week for the week of Jan. 7-13. Brakebush finished the week scoring 43 points in the two games while shooting 62.5 percent from both the field (15-24) and the three-point line (10-16). He scored a Pacific season-high 26 points in the Boxers road win at Pacific Lutheran, hitting 9 of 15 from the field and 5 of 10 from three-point range. While selected to the national honor roll for the week. Brakebush's performances finished as honorable mention for the Northwest Conference's Student-Athlete of the Week honor for the same week.
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 call 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.
