Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT LEWIS & CLARK
Game No. 14/Away Game No. 9
Fri., Jan. 17, 8 p.m., Pamplin Sports Center, Portland Ore.
Live Stats & Video |
Live Audio
PACIFIC LUTHERAN AT PACIFIC
Game No. 15/Home Game No. 6
Sat., Jan. 18, 8 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats |
Live Audio & Video
PACIFIC LOOKS TO STAY IN TOP HALF OF NWC STANDINGS
After a tough split with Willamette and George Fox in the first two games of a three-game road trip, the Pacific men's basketball team will aim to stay in the top half of the Northwest Conference standings with two more games this week. The Boxers will play at Lewis & Clark on Friday before returning home on Saturday to host Pacific Lutheran.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific capitalized on a big 25-point night by
Daniel Zitani to win their first NWC road game of the season, 56-48, over Willamette on Tuesday. The Boxers leaned on the free throw line to win the game, going 12 of 15 from the stripe and 6 of 8 in the final minute.
• A 14-2 run to open the game was not enough for the Boxers to bury George Fox in Newberg on Saturday as the Bruins surged to outscore the Boxers 50-33 in the second half and shot 58.8 percent in the stanza to roll to the 80-68 victory.
•
Daniel Zitani posted a Pacific career-high scoring night against George Fox, scoring 30 points to go along with 11 rebounds, a block and a steal. He enters the week as the NWC leader in scoring, rebounding, field goals made, free throws made, total points, total rebounds and offensive rebounds.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
LEWIS & CLARK
The Pioneers enter the week tied for second in the NWC with Whitman at 3-1 and are 10-3 overall. Lewis & Clark has won three straight after taking both NWC games over the weekend. On Friday, the Pioneers pulled out a tight 79-78 victory at home over George Fox. The Bruins led by 11 points at halftime, but L&C came back to shoot 53.1 percent from the field in the second half. The game came right down to the end with Randall Jackson making a free throw with 13 seconds to win it. Connor Freeberg led L&C with 21 points while Justin Leathers contributed 18. L&C had an easier time on Sunday, beating Linfield 70-57 in a game re-scheduled from Saturday due to a power outage in McMinnville. The Pioneers built the 39-27 halftime lead and never looked back despite shooting just 35.8 percenr from the field. Freeberg led the Pioneers with 20 points. Kurt Parker leads the Pioneers in scoring, averaging 13.4 points per game. Serg Ovchinnikov averages 11.7 points per game while Freeberg and Quentin Sims are averaging 11.2 points per game. Leathers is the Pioneers' leading rebounder at 6.7 boards per game. As a team, L&C is averaging 86.4 points per game (2nd in NWC) and a league-leading 40.1 rebounds per game. Dinari Foreman is in his third season as L&C head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Lewis & Clark leads 70-35Â Â Â
AGAINST CLEARY: Lewis & Clark leads 4-0
LAST MEETING: Lewis & Clark won 66-53 at Forest Grove on Feb. 12, 2013
PACIFIC LUTHERAN
The Lutes enter the week tied for seventh in the NWC at 1-3 and are 4-9 overall. PLU has lost three straight after opening the league schedule with a 72-64 win over George Fox on Jan. 3. The Lutes fell in a close 76-73 contest at Whitworth on Friday. PLU entered halftime with a 36-32 lead, but were held to just one free throw in the final two minutes as the Pirates broke away with a George Valle lay-in and two Christian Jurlina free throws. Bryce Miller led the Lutes with 22 points while Daniel Landram added 20 points. The Lutes saw their contest at Whitman on Saturday get away in the second half as well thanks to the free throw line in a 74-60 loss. The Missionaries made 11 of 14 from the stripe in the final 20 minutes while the Lutes missed their only two attempts. Landram paced the Lutes with 18 points. Arvid Isaksen leads the Lutes in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. As a team, PLU is averaging 67.5 points and 31.9 rebounds per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field. The Lutes are being outscored by an average of four points per game. Steve Dickerson is in his eighth season as PLU head coach.
ALL-TIME SERIES: PLU leads 62-31Â Â Â Â Â Â
AGAINST CLEARY: PLU leads 3-1
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 68-62 at Forest Grove on Feb. 9, 2013
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
RETURNING TO FORM: Daniel Zitani (Sr., Oakland, Calif.) made up for a quiet weekend against the eastern Washington schools by roaring to life in last week's road contests. The league's top scorer and rebounder proceeded to score 55 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the two games, shooting 54 percent from the field and 14 of 21 from the free throw line. In Tuesday's victory over Willamette, Zitani scored 25 points on 10 of 18 from the field to go along with nine rebounds. He had two of the key free throws in the final minute to help the Boxers secure the win. On Saturday, Zitani was the prime mover in the Pacific offense as he came up with a Pacific career-high 30 points and secured his fifth double-double of the year with 10 rebounds in the loss. The performances only solidified Zitani's place as the top scorer and rebounder in the league. He enters the week leading the NWC with 20.1 points and nine rebounds per game. He also leads the NWC with 94 field goals made, 69 free throws made, 261 points, 117 total rebounds and 39 offensive rebounds. Zitani also ranks second with 78 defensive rebounds, third with 18 blocked shots and fourth with 32.2 minutes per game and a .525 field goal percentage. In the Jan. 9 NCAA Division III statistics report, Zitani ranked 74th in points per game and 89th in rebounds per game.
BUDWEISER ON TAP: Budweiser Hawkins (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.) is making the most of his time coming off the bench. Hawkins played a key role in the Boxers' 56-48 win over Willamette on Tuesday, scoring 10 points to go along with four rebounds. He went a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line, all of which came in the final minute to help ice the game. Hawkins has played in nine of the Boxers' 13 games, missing the first four of the season due to injury. He enters the week averaging 5.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
ADD BENCH PERFORMERS: Eric Moore (Sr., Salem, Ore.) is also making the most of his time both off the bench and in spot starting opportunities. The senior came up with six points in the Boxers' loss to George Fox on Saturday, all of which came in the first half on three-pointers. His biggest contribution, however, has been as a distributor. He had five assists in the two games last week and he enters the week ranked seventh in the NWC with 34 assists.
GRAND CONTRIBUTIONS: While his production last week was relatively quiet,
Riley Grandinetti (Jr., Murray, Utah) is still making valuable contributions to the Boxers' successes. Grandinetti had his best scoring performance of the week in Saturday's loss to George Fox, scoring eight points. Five came in the first half and six came on three-pointers. He also had two assists and two steals in the game. Grandinetti continues to be a player to keep an eye on for opposing teams. He ranks second for the Boxers in scoring with an average of 10 points per game. Grandinetti is also tied for second in the NWC with a 3.7 assist-to-turnover ratio, sixth with 31 three-pointers made, tied for eighth with 33 assists and 10th with his .419 three-point percentage.
HOLDING DOWN THE OTHER BLOCK: Mitch Wettig (Jr., Bend, Ore.) also continues to make positive contributions for the Boxers as the team's starting small forward. Wettig had his best performance of the week at Willamette on Tuesday, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds to go along with a block and a steal. With the starting lineup changing up to counter George Fox's speed on Saturday, Wettig came off the bench to score five points and pulled down four rebounds to go along with a pair of assists. Wettig enters the week as the the Boxers' second leading rebounder, ranking fifth in the NWC with an average of 6.5 boards per game. Wettig also ranks third in the NWC with 61 defensive rebounds, fourth with a .464 three-point percentage and fifth with 85 total rebounds.
STRONG DEFENSIVE TEAM: Pacific continues to be a solid defensive team. The Boxers enter the week continuing to lead the NWC in points allowed at 63.3 points per game and rank second in opponent field goal percentage, allowing foes 40.1 percent of their shots. In the Jan. 9 NCAA Division III statistics report, the Boxers ranked 19th in scoring defense and 26th in opponent field goal percentage.
BALL SECURITY: Pacific is giving opponents little chance to gain the ball outside of missed shot opportunities. The Boxers enter the week leading the NWC and 10th among NCAA Division III teams with an average of just 10.5 turnovers per game. In addition, the Boxers rank 35th nationally in fewest turnovers with 122 as of Jan. 9. In 13 games, the Boxers have finished under 10 turnovers seven times and finished with a season-low five turnovers on Tuesday at Willamette. Pacific coughed up the ball just two times in the second half against the Bearcats.
KEEPING IT CLEAN: Pacific is responding to the new national emphasis by referees on clean play by keeping their fouls down. The Boxers are committing just 15.2 personal fouls per game, ranking the Boxers first in the NWC and ninth among NCAA Division III teams. Pacific also ranks 65th in Division in fewest fouls with 182 as of Jan. 9. Additionally, Pacific has yet to see a player foul out this season.
STREAKING: Pacific saw their best win streak in over a decade end with the loss to Whitworth on Jan. 3. The six-game win streak, which began with a 53-35 home win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Nov. 22 was the team's best since the 1999-2000 season, when the Boxers won six straight to close out the first half of their NWC season and won the first three games of the second half of the schedule.
THE 30-WIN PLATEAU: Head Coach
Tim Cleary reached another plateau in his Pacific tenure, winning his 30th game with the Boxers' 53-35 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Nov. 22. Cleary has seen the Boxers excel over the last two seasons, compiling a .638 winning percentage since the start of the 2012-13 campaign.
CLEARY APPEARING ON WEEKLY SMALL COLLEGE HOOPS PODCAST: Head Coach
Tim Cleary is one of five coaches regularly featured on a 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 9:30 p.m. (Cleary usually appears on the show in the 9:52 p.m. time slot). The live stream and archived podcasts can be accessed at
www.blogtalkradio.com/smallcollegehoops.
SEASON HONORS: The following Pacific players have earned weekly honors during the course of the 2013-14 season:
Daniel Zitani: NWC Men's Basketball Student-Ahtlete of the Week for week of Dec. 16-22 for scoring 23 points and 12 rebounds in 71-70 overtime victory over Occidental...NWC Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week and D3Hoops.com Team of the Week for week of Dec. 9-15 for scoring 47 points with two double-doubles in wins at Pomona-Pitzer and Pacifica...NWC Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week for the week of Nov. 11-17 after averaging 20.2 points per game and led the Boxers in scoring in two of the three games of their season-opening Southern California road trip.
PACIFIC PICKED FIFTH IN NWC PRESEASON POLL: Northwest Conference coaches have picked Pacific to repeat their fifth place finish in the annual preseason poll released in early November. The Boxers received 30 of a possible 72 points in the poll after finishing 15-10 overall and 9-7 in the NWC last season. Whitworth is selected to repeat as conference champion, receiving 70 votes and seven of the league's nine first place votes. Whitman is picked second with 58 points and two first place votes. Lewis & Clark was picked third with 48 points, followed by George Fox (44), Pacific (30), Puget Sound (27), Pacific Lutheran (23), Linfield (19) and Willamette (14).
