Grandinetti Leads Boxers In Front of Hometown Crowd In Utah

Grandinetti Leads Boxers In Front of Hometown Crowd In Utah

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By Blake Timm '98, Sports Information Director

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY – Riley Grandinetti (Sr., Murray, Utah) led Pacific in front of his hometown crowd Thursday night as Pacific's men's basketball program opened their 2014-15 season with a 98-38 loss to No. 25 ranked Utah at the Huntsman Center.
 
Grandinetti, who is from the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray, led the Boxers with 11 points, connecting on 4 of 10 from the field and three three-pointers, two of which came in the waning minutes of the second half.  Mitch Wettig (Sr., Bend, Ore) added eight points, five rebounds and two blocks while Michael Garcia (Fr., Forest Grove, Ore.) scored six in his Pacific debut.
 
The Boxers, however, found themselves out-sized and out-skilled by the Utes, who entered the game ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press Division I Preseason Top-25 Poll.  Pacific shot 22.6 percent from the field.  The Boxers made the most of their free throw opportunities, connecting on 7 of 9 from the charity stripe.
 
Head coach Tim Cleary said the contest was not so much about the outcome, but about having a chance to evaluate the team ahead of their opener on Nov. 15.  "Exhibition play is about getting better and utilizing the experiences you get a high level, playing a team like this, are using it to help us improve," Cleary said.  "The great thing about playing a team the caliber of Utah is that when you don't execute at a high level, you get exposed.  So it provides obvious teaching points."
 
And overall, Cleary felt like the Boxers had glimpses of what will come during the regular season.  "I thought at times we executed very well for as early in the season as it is," he said.  "I also thought that, despite the adversity in the game our guys stayed together and worked to do the right things."
 
Jordan Loveridge led Utah with 20 points, connecting on 7 of 11 from the floor and 4 of 4 from three-point rage.  Brekkott Chapman added 14 points and Brandon Taylor came off the bench to score 11.  Jakob Poeltl led the Utes with 11 rebounds.
 
Call it first game jitters or the pressure of playing a Division I team, but the Boxers struggled to find their game at all in the first half.  Pacific missed their six shots of the game and the Utes bolted out to an 11-0 lead on Lovebridge's three-pointers with under four minutes gone.  Bobby Ahern (Jr., Madras, Ore.) finally put Pacific on the board on his tip-in of Skyler Burgess' (Jr., Riverton, Utah) missed shot at the 16:13 mark.
 
Grandinetti hit a three-pointer in front of friends and family to bring the Boxers within 15-5 with 13:29 to go, but would not score again from the field for another five minutes.  DeVon Pouncey (Jr., Vallejo, Calif.) snapped the drought with his tip-in with 8:42 left, but would hit only three free throws the rest of the period as Utah rolled to a 49-11 lead at the break.
 
Boxers shot 4 for 6 over the first four minutes of the second half.  Ahern and Wettig both had three-pointers in the run and Wettig's lay-up at the 16:36 mark made it a 59-21 Utah lead.  The Utes, however, kept the offensive pressure up throughout the stanza.  Chris Reyes hit a lay-in with 10:14 to go to put the Utes up 80-27.  The Boxers rallied to score nine points in the final six minutes, including two three-pointers from Grandinetti in the final minute.
 
Pacific opens the 2014-15 regular season next Saturday, Nov. 15, hosting Schreiner at the Stoller Center.  Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.  A live video webcast of the game will be available at GoBoxers.com.
 
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