Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook

Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook

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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
PACIFIC AT WHITMAN
Game No. 18/Away Game No. 11
Fri., Jan. 31, 8 p.m., Sherwood Center, Walla Walla, Wash.
Live Stats & Video | Live Audio

PACIFIC AT WHITWORTH
Game No. 19/Away Game No. 12
Sat., Feb. 1, 6 p.m., Whitworth Fieldhouse, Spokane, Wash.
Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video

BATTLE OF WHITS AWAIT BOXERS TO OPEN 2ND HALF
A split with Puget Sound and Linfield allowed the Pacific men's basketball to stay even at the end of the first half of the Northwest Conference and a game out of contention for a NWC Tournament spot.  The Boxers open the second half of the conference schedule on the road against the league's top-two teams, at Whitman on Friday and Whitworth on Saturday.

BOXER BYTES
• Pacific's bench outscored the Puget Sound bench 30-9, but the Boxers managed just 33.9 percent shooting from the field in a 68-62 loss to the Loggers.  Landon Littlefield came off the bench to lead the Boxers with a season-high 15 points.

• Pacific posts came up big against Linfield on Saturday as the Boxers rebounded to knock off the Wildcats 64-56.  Daniel Zitani led all scorers with 16 points while Mitch Wettig notched his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

• Pacific takes care of the basketball like no other NWC club, ranking first in the league and eighth among NCAA Division III teams with an average of just 9.9 turnovers per game.  The Boxers also rank 15th among Division III teams in fewest turnovers with 169.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
WHITMAN
The Missionaries enter the week in second place in the NWC at 6-2 and are 11-6 overall after splitting their contests last week.  On Tuesday, Whitman lost in a spirited 84-80 contest to eastern Washington rival Whitworth.  The Missionaries used solid free throw shooting in the first half to take a 49-44 halftime lead, but the Pirates shot 62.5 percent from the field and from three-point range to build a 12-point lead in the second half en route to the win.  Tochi Oti led Whitman with 22 points while Evan Martin had a double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds.  On Friday, the Missionaries proved easy winners over Lewis & Clark, 76-59.  Whitman trailed 41-38 half, but shot 54.1 percent from the field in the second half and limited the Pioneers to 18 points and six field goals. Matt Mounier led five Whitman players in double figures with 15 points.  Mounier leads the Whitman offense with an average of 15.9 points per game and is shooting 83.9 percent from the free throw line.  Martin is averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.  As a team, Whitman is averaging 80.9 points and 34.2 rebounds per game and is outscoring teams by an average of nine points per game.  Eric Bridgeland is in his sixth season as Whitman head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 54-42        AGAINST CLEARY: Whitman leads 3-2
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 66-65 in Forest Grove on Jan. 4, 2014

WHITWORTH
The league-leading Pirates enter the week with a 13-4 overall record and 7-1 conference mark.  Whitworth ran its current win streak to three games after winning both games last week.  On Tuesday, the Pirates blistered the nets to shoot 62.5 percent from the field and from three-point range to beat down-state rival Whitman 84-80.  Despite their red hot shooting, Whitworth trailed 49-44 at halftime, but hit 8 of 11 from three-point range in the second period to make up the winning difference.  Colton McCargar led the Pirates with 23 points on 8 of 11 from the field.  Whitworth hosted Lewis & Clark on Saturday and easily cruised to an 81-65 victory.  The red-hot shooting continued as the Pirates shot 58.2 percent from the field.  Whitworth also made 12 more shots than the Pioneers, led by a 16-point performance by Dustin McConnell.  Five Whitworth players scored in double figures.  McCargar leads the Whitworth offense and ranks third in the NWC with an average of 16.4 points per game.  Taylor Farnsworth & George Valle are both averaging 5.3 rebounds per game.  As a team, Whitworth is averaging 74.7 points and 35.2 rebounds per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the field.  Matt Logie is in his third season as Whitworth head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Whitworth leads 48-24    AGAINST CLEARY: Whitworth leads 5-0
LAST MEETING: Whitworth won 65-52 at Forest Grove on Jan. 3, 2014

PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
BIG MAN, BIG DIVIDENDS: When Daniel Zitani (Sr., Oakland, Calif.) is on, the Boxers win.  The senior forward led the way for Pacific with 16 points in their 64-56 win over Linfield on Saturday.  He hit 5 of 9 from the field and 6 of 9 from the free throw line to go along with eight rebounds, a block and a steal.  Puget Sound limited Zitani's production with early foul trouble on Friday as he scored just seven points in the Boxers' 68-62 loss.  Zitani continues to be the major cog in the Pacific offense.  He enters the week ranked first in the NWC and 67th among NCAA Division III players with an average of 19.4 points per game.  He also leads the league in rebounding, averaging 8.1 rebounds per game.  Zitani also leads the NWC in field goals made (119), free throws made (85), points (329) and total rebounds (137).  He also ranks second in defensive rebounds (94), third in offensive rebounds (43) and blocked shots (22), fourth in field goal percentage (.527) and fifth in minutes per game (31.2) and total minutes (530).

ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Mitch Wettig (Jr., Bend, Ore.) notched his second double-double of the season as he helped the Boxers beat Linfield on Saturday night.  Wettig came alive for 13 points and 10 rebounds to go along with an assist and a block.  He also went a perfect 6 of 6 from the free throw line.  Wettig continues to be a major factor in the Boxers' success.  He enters the week tied for second for the team in scoring at 8.9 points per game.  He is ranked third in the NWC in rebounds per game (6.8) and defensive rebounds (80), fourth in three-point percentage (.442), sixth in total rebounds (115), eighth in offensive rebounds (35) and tied for ninth in blocked shots (8).

LANDON LANDIN' A BIG NIGHT: A relatively quiet NWC season finally came alive for Landon Littlefield (Jr., Henderson, Nev.) as he scored 23 points in the Boxers' two weekend games.  Littlefield led the Boxers with a season-high 15 points off the bench in the loss on Friday to Puget Sound.  He paced a night that saw Pacific's bench outscore the Puget Sound bench 30-9.  He went 5 of 9 from the field, 3 of 6 from three-point range and 4 of 6 from the free throw line.  Littlefield continued to contribute in the win at Linfield on Saturday, scoring seven points.  In the process, Littlefield raised his scoring average by nearly a point to 5.4 points per game.

THEIR STOCK IS RISING: Both Budwesier Hawkins (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.) and Jordan Batey (Jr., San Antonio, Texas) have stepped up their game for the Boxers over the last two weeks.  Hawkins has increased his scoring average by nearly a point per game since the start of the NWC season, entering the week averaging 5.7 points per game.  He scored a season-high 14 points in Friday's game against Puget Sound, going 4 of 8 from the field and 6 of 9 from three-point range.  He added secen points in the victory on Saturday at Linfield.  Batey has seen his scoring average go up well over a point, entering the week averaging seven points per game.  He tied his second best scoring performance of the season on Friday against Puget Sound, finished with 12 points.

BALL SECURITY: Pacific continues to be one of the teams in the nation when it comes to protecting the ball.  The Boxers enter the week averaging 9.9 turnovers per game, well ahead of second place Pacific Lutheran (11.2 per game).  The low number also ranks the Boxers eighth among NCAA Division III teams.  The Boxers have finished with single digits in turnovers in each of their last three games.  Their five turnovers against Pacific Lutheran on Jan. 18 tied a season low.

STRONG DEFENSIVE TEAM: Pacific continues to be one of the top defensive teams in the NWC.  The Boxers enter the week leading the league in points allowed at 63.5 points per game and ranked 35th in the category in this week's NCAA Division III stats report.  Pacific also ranks second in the NWC and 66th in Division III in opponent field goal percentage (.410) and fourth in opponent three-point percentage (.320).

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 15.8 personal fouls per game, ranking the Boxers first in the NWC and 23rd among NCAA Division III teams.  Pacific also ranks 43rd in Division III in fewest fouls with 268.  Pacific saw its first foul disqualifications of the season against Puget Sound on Saturday after going 14 games without a player fouling out.

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 Jan. 18, 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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