Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook

Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook

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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PUGET SOUND AT PACIFIC
Game No. 16/Home Game No. 7
Fri., Jan. 24, 8 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats | Live Audio & Video

PACIFIC AT LINFIELD
Game No. 17/Away Game No. 10
Sat., Jan. 25, 8 p.m., Ted Wilson Gymnasium, McMinnville, Ore.
Live Stats & Video | Live Audio

BOXERS AIM TO POSITION WELL FOR 2ND HALF OF NWC SEASON
The Pacific men's basketball team will close the first half of the Northwest Conference season with a chance to position themselves back in the league's top-four entering the critical second half.  The Boxers will host Puget Sound at the Stoller Center on Friday before closing the first half of the NWC slate on Saturday at Linfield.

BOXER BYTES
• Pacific could not get past a number of solid offensive runs by Lewis & Clark on Friday as the Pioneers went on to the 63-55 victory.  The Boxers shot 40.4 percent from the field, led by 20 points by Daniel Zitani.

• At home on Saturday, the Boxers used a pair of big nights from their forwards to take a 72-69 victory from Pacific Lutheran.  Daniel Zitani poured in 25 points while Mitch Wettig added 15 points and eight rebounds.  The two big men had five of the team's 10 three-pointers.

• Pacific continues to be one of the best defensive teams in the NWC.  The Boxers lead the league in points allowed (63.7 points per game) and are second in opponent field goal percentage (.406).  The Boxers are also taking care of the ball, leading the NWC with a paltry 10.3 turnovers per game.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
PUGET SOUND
The Loggers enter the week with an 8-7 overall record and moved into fourth place in the NWC at 4-2 thanks to a pair of wins last week.  Puget Sound used three-point and free throw shooting to pull away from a 35-35 tie to beat Pacific Lutheran 77-70 in a rare Wednesday night contest.  The Loggers shot 47.1 percent from three-point range (8-17) and 25 of 31 from the free throw line.  A.J. Maw led five Puget Sound players in double figures with 15 points.  It was not as close of an affair on Friday against Willamette as the Loggers rolled to a 64-45 win.  Puget Sound built their advantage in the first half, going up 38-23 as they limited the Bearcats to 34.6 percent shooting in the period.  Rex Nelson led Puget Sound with 17 points.  Nelson leads the Loggers in scoring with an average of 15.5 points per game.  Nelson and Nick Holden share top rebounding honors with averages of 6.5 boards per game.  As a team, Puget Sound is averaging 71.9 points and 39.6 rebounds per game.  They are shooting 43.8 percent from the field but just 32 percent from three-point range.  The Loggers lead the NWC in rebounding margin (4.9), blocks per game (3.0) and opponent's field goal percentage (.390).  Justin Lunt is in his eighth season as Puget Sound head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Puget Sound leads 27-13    AGAINST CLEARY: Puget Sound leads 4-0
LAST MEETING: Puget Sound won 66-61 in Tacoma, Wash., on Feb. 15, 2013

LINFIELD
The Wildcats enter the week in ninth place in the NWC at 0-6 and are 2-13 overall.  Linfield is in the throes of an 11-game losing streak, having not won since a 60-54 victory over Caltech on Nov. 23.  The Wildcats took tough losses to the two eastern Washington schools over the week.  On Friday, Linfield was held to just 39 percent first half shooting and were forced into 19 turnovers by Whitman as the Missionaries cruised to a 73-53 victory.  Tanner Brill was the only Linfield player to score in double figures, scoring 10 points.  The result was much the same against Whitworth on Saturday as the Pirates won 83-59.  The Wildcats shot 38 percent for the game and were outrebounded by the Pirates 35-29.  Ryan Potter led Linfield with 12 points while Chris Dirks added 11 points.  Potter leads the Linfield offense with an average of 11 points per game.  Ryan Cali is the Wildcats' leading rebounder, averaging 4.3 boards per game.  As a team, Linfield is averaging 61.8 points and 29.7 rebounds per game.  They are shooting 39 percent from the field and are being outscored by an average of 11 points per game.  Shanan Rosenberg, a former Lewis & Clark assistant, is in his first season as Linfield head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Linfield leads 72-28        AGAINST CLEARY: Linfield leads 3-1
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 85-60 at McMinnville, Ore., on Feb. 8, 2013

PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
TURNING TO THE BIG MAN: Daniel Zitani (Sr., Oakland, Calif.) showed over the last week that he can not only be a threat on the blocks, but also from the outside.  Zitani was once again the Boxers' leading scorer, averaging 22.5 points over the two games while shooting 58.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range.  In Friday's loss at Lewis & Clark, Zitani led the way with 20 points as he his on 9 of 14 from the field to go along with three rebounds and two blocks.  On Saturday, Zitani scored a game-high 25 points on 8 of 15 from the field, 2 of 3 from three-point range and 7 of 11 from the free throw line to beat Pacific Lutheran.  He added five rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.  The numbers allowed Zitani to continue to be the top player in the conference statistically.  He leads the NWC with averages of 20.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.  He also ranked in the NCAA Division III top-100 in both categories in their last report on Jan. 16.  Zitani also leads the NWC in field goals made (111), free throws made (78), points (306), total rebounds (125) and offensive rebounds (40).  In addition, Zitani ranks second in the NWC in defensive rebounds (85) and blocked shots (21), fourth in minutes per game (32.0) and minutes (480) and fifth in field goal percentage (.534).

ADD BIG MAN VERSATILITY: Mitch Wettig (Jr., Bend, Ore.) added his part to the Boxers inside/outside persence at the forward position.  Wettig had his best scoring performance of the NWC season on Saturday, scoring 15 points in the win over Pacific Lutheran.  He went 6 of 10 from the field and 3 of 6 from three-point range to go along with eight rebounds.  The previous night, Wettig had six points in the loss to Lewis & Clark while leading the team with seven rebounds.  Wettig enters the week as the Boxers' third leading scorer at 9.1 points per game and is ranked third in the NWC in rebounding at 6.7 boards per game.  His three-point prowess should be no surprise as he ranks second in the NWC with a .486 three-point percentage.  In addition, Wettig enters the week ranked third in the NWC in total rebounds (100) and defensive rebounds (72) and is tied for ninth in blocked shots (7).

BUDWEISER HAS SERIOUS HOPS: Breaking into the starting lineup for the first time this season, Budweiser Hawkins (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.) made a serious impact on the glass.  The senior finished with eight rebounds in 31 minutes of action, sharing the team lead with Mitch Wettig.  Five of those rebounds came on the offensive glass.  Hawkins also had four assists, a block and a steal in a teriffic guard performance.  Hawkins enters the week as the Boxers' third leading rebounder with an average of 4.3 rebounds per game.  He is also third for the team with 16 offensive rebounds.

BENCH PRODUCTION: Pacfiic continues to receive great production from the bench.  The Boxers' bench outscored their opponent's benches 41-32 in the two games and the Boxers outscored Lewis & Clark 23-16 on Friday night.  Jordan Batey (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) continues to be a significant offensive contributor off the bench.  He scored 10 points in Friday's game at Lewis & Clark, going 4 of 7 from the field and 2 of 5 from three-point range.  Not to be outdone, Eric Moore (Sr., Salem, Ore.) came up big for the Boxers off the bench in Saturday's victory over Pacific Lutheran, scoring eight points on 3 of 4 from the field and 2 of 3 from three-point range.

DISHING THE BALL: The Pacific guards are excelling in finding their marks on offense.  The Boxers enter the week ranked third in assists, averaging 13.6 per game.  The Boxers had 20 assists in the win over Pacific Lutheran on Saturday, their best performance during the NWC season.  Eric Moore had six of those scoring passes.  He enters the week ranked seventh in the NWC with 40 assists.  Three Pacific players are ranked in the NWC top-10 in assists.  Riley Grandinetti (Jr., Murray, Utah) is ranked ninth with 35 assists while Coby Proctor (Jr., Sublimity, Ore.) is tied for 10th with 26 assists.

STRONG DEFENSIVE TEAM: Pacific continues to be one of the top defensive teams in the NWC.  The Boxers enter the week in points allowed at 63.7 points per game and ranked 32nd in the category in the Jan. 16 NCAA Division III stats report.  Pacific also ranks second in the NWC in opponent field goal percentage (.406) and fourth in opponent three-point percentage (.311).

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 are 11th among NCAA Division III teams with an average of just 10.5 turnovers per game.  In addition, the Boxers rank 12th nationally in fewest turnovers with 136 as of Jan. 16.  In 15 games, the Boxers have finished under 10 turnovers eight times.

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 15.5 personal fouls per game, ranking the Boxers first in the NWC and 10th among NCAA Division III teams.  Pacific also ranks 25th in Division in fewest fouls with 198 as of Jan. 16.  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.

FASTEST TO 10 WINS: With their victory over Pacific Lutheran on Saturday, Pacific amassed 10 wins in the fewest games since the 1999-2000 season.  Pacific reached the 10-win plateau in 15 games this season.  It is also the second 10-win season under Head Coach Tim Cleary.  The Boxers needed 16 games to reach 10 wins in 2012-13 on their way to a 15-10 finish.

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).
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