Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook

Men's Basketball Weekly Notebook

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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
LINFIELD AT PACIFIC
Game No. 24/Home Game No. 11
Fri., Feb. 21, 8 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats | Live Audio & Video

PACIFIC AT PUGET SOUND
Game No. 25/Away Game No. 9
Sat., Feb. 22, 8 p.m., Memorial Field House, Tacoma, Wash.
Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video

BOXERS' PLAYOFF HOPES COME DOWN TO THE LAST WEEKEND
The Pacific men's basketball team helped themselves last week, winning two of their three games in a challenging week where the Boxers had an added game due to weather.  The Boxers will honor their seniors as they host Linfield on Friday before traveling north to Tacoma for the regular season finale at Puget Sound.

BOXER BYTES
• Pacific had to hold off a furious rally in the late minutes by George Fox Tuesday night, but made their free throws at the end to hold off the Bruins 73-69.  Daniel Zitani came alive for 28 points on 10 of 16 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free throw line.

• Landon Littlefield's three-point play with three seconds left broke a 51-51 tie and allowed the Boxers a 54-51 road victory at Pacific Lutheran.  Littlefield came off the bench to lead Pacific with 13 points while Mitch Wettig finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.

• Daniel Zitani came up big again on Saturday night, scoring 30 points on 12 of 24 from the field and 5 of 8 from the free throw line, but the effort was not enough to counter a 47.4 percent performance from three-point range for Lewis & Clark as the Boxers fell 72-66.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
LINFIELD
The Wildcats enter the week tied for eighth place in the NWC at 1-12 and are 3-19 overall.  Linfield will have a three-game week to end the season thanks to the weather postponements from last weekend's snowstorm.  The Wildcats will be looking to end a four-game losing streak after dropping three games last week.  In an added Tuesday snow make-up game the Wildcats lost at Lewis & Clark 79-70.  Linfield was within 33-30 at halftime, but Lewis & Clark made 25 of 30 free throw attempts to score the victory.  Tanner Brill, Ryan Potter and Adam Myren all scored 15 points apiece.  On Friday, Linfield could not keep up with a high-powered Whitworth squad in Spokane as the Pirates rolled to a 91-59 victory.  Linfield shot a respectable 41.3 percent from the field, but the Pirates shot 56.1 percent for the game and 64 percent in the first half.  Vinnie Toor came off the bench to lead Linfield with 10 points.  The story was much the same in Walla Walla on Saturday as the Boxers fell to Whitman 91-63.  Linfield again shot 42.6 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Missionaries 35-30.  Jackson Gion led Linfield with 14 points.  Potter leads the Linfield offense with an average of 10.8 points per game.  Ryan Cali is the Wildcats' top rebounder, averaging four rebounds per game.  As a team, Linfield is averaging 62.3 points and 29.3 rebounds per game.  They are being outscored by an average of 11 points per game.  Shanan Rosenberg is in his first season as Linfield head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Linfield leads 72-29        AGAINST CLEARY: Pacific leads 4-3
LAST MEETING: Linfield won 64-56 in McMinnville, Ore., on Jan. 25, 2014

PUGET SOUND
The Loggers are in control of their own destiny for a NWC playoff spot, entering the week in third place at 9-5 and are 13-10 overall.  After dropping two games to the eastern Washington schools the week before, Puget Sound won both games last week to solidify their position.  On Tuesday, the Loggers won the Battle of Tacoma by beating Pacific Lutheran 61-57.  Puget Sound led 29-23 at halftime, but had to hold off a second half rally by the Lutes to preserve the win, thanks in part to shooting 22 of 29 from the free throw line.  Erin Barber led Puget Sound with 13 points while Rex Nelson added 12.  On Saturday, the Loggers came out on the winning end of a close 67-63 decision with Willamette.  They excelled again at the free throw line, making 27 of 33 to hold off another potential second half rally.  Nelson's 14 points paced the Loggers.  Nelson leads the Puget Sound offense, averaging 14.7 points per game.  Nick Holden is the team's leading rebounder, averaging seven per game.  As a team, Puget Sound is averaging 71 points and 40 rebounds per game.  Justin Lunt is in his eighth season as Puget Sound head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Puget Sound leads 28-13    AGAINST CLEARY: Puget Sound leads 5-2
LAST MEETING: Puget Sound won 68-62 in Forest Grove on Jan. 24, 2014

PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
TOPPING OFF AN IMPRESSIVE SEASON: Northwest Conference coaches will be hard pressed to not put Daniel Zitani (Sr., Oakland, Calif.) on their first team ballot for the all-conference team.  The senior forward put together more impressive performances in the Boxers' three-game run last week.  On Tuesday, Zitani scored 28 points against George Fox while hitting on 10 of 16 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free throw line.  He also had eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal.  After a quiet night at Pacific Lutheran where he scored "just" nine points, Zitani carried the Boxers on Saturday against Lewis & Clark.  He posted his second 30-point night of the season, connecting on 12 of 24 from the field and 5 of 8 from the free throw line to go along with seven rebounds and two steals.  Zitani will likely close out the season having led the NWC in scoring from the start of the season to the finish.  He enters the week leading the league and ranks 64th among NCAA Division III players with his scoring average of 19.2 points per game.  He also is ranked second in the NWC in rebounds (7.8 per game), total rebounds (179) and defensive rebounds (124) and is third in the league in minutes per game (31.7), total minutes (728), offensive rebounds (55) and blocked shots (26).  In the Feb. 16 NCAA Division III statistics report, Zitani ranked 17th in free throws attempted (169) and 40th in free throws made (113).

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS: While his scoring output was not high, Mitch Wettig (Jr., Bend, Ore.) more than made up for it on the boards.  Wettig pulled down 28 rebounds over the three games last week and pulled his average up to 7.1 rebounds per game, moving up to third in the NWC.  On Tuesday against George Fox, Wettig finished with 11 rebounds, five of which were on the offensive glass.  After pulling down seven rebounds at Pacific Lutheran on Friday, Wettig finished with 10 rebounds in Saturday's loss to Lewis & Clark.  Wettig's highest scoring nith was at PLU where he finished with 12 points.  A starter in 20 of the Boxers; 23 games, Wettig also enters the week ranked third in the NWC in both total rebounds (163) and defensive rebounds (113) and ranks sixth in the league in three-point percentage (.419) and offensive rebounds (50).

DOING MOORE FOR THE BOXERS: Eric Moore (Sr., Salem, Ore.) has seen his contributions before more apparent since he moved into the starting lineup this week.  Moore started all thee games last week and finished shooting 9 for 19 from the field with eight assists during the stretch.  He opened the week by tying his season high with 10 points against George Fox on Tuesday.  He added eight points and hit they game-tying shot that set up Pacific's win at Pacific Lutheran on Friday.  In Saturday's loss to Lewis & Clark, Moore scored seven points while playing a season-high 33 minutes.  Moore enters the week having raided his scoring average a half-point to 4.1 points per game.  Moore ranks among the Boxers' best free throw shooters, having hit 75 percent of his opportunities, but has not made the minimum of two per game to qualify for the NWC statistics.

BOOM SHAKA LAKA: Budweiser Hawkins (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.) provided the moment of the night for the Boxers in Saturday's game against Lewis & Clark.  With 3:54 left in the first half, Hawkins received a pass in the backcourt from Jordan Batey (Jr., San Antonio, Texas).  Hawkins streaked across the midcourt line, ran right up the lane and slammed the ball home with one hand to electrify the Stoller Center crowd.  Video of the dunk can be seen at http://youtu.be/6qU-9iclg8Y and has been viewed nearly 800 times over the last day.  Hawkins has only continued to improve in the last nine games, where he has been a regular starter.  Hawkins enters the week averaging 6.4 points per game and is shooting 47 percent from the field.

NO LAZY HAYES: Cameron Hayes (Sr., Milton, Wash.) is planning to finish his Pacific career by giving all that he can.  Hayes has been a valued reserve player for the Boxers this season.  He has played in 23 games and made three starts early in.  He enters the week averaging 3.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.  Hayes also enters the week as one of the most accurate sheets on the team, hitting 44.6 percent of his shots (33-74).

HURLEY TO BE HONORED ON SENIOR NIGHT: Connor Hurley (Jr., Portland, Ore.) will be among the five seniors honors during Friday's game.  A senior academically, Hurley was unable to play this season due to injuries.

BALL SECURITY: Pacific continues to be the top team in league in terms of ball security. The Boxers enter the week averaging 10.6 turnovers per game, well ahead of second place Whitworth (11.6 per game).  The Boxers ranked 21st among NCAA Division III teams in turnovers per game in the last Division III stats report.  The Boxers were also ranked 27th in fewest turnovers with 211.  Pacific has finished with s10 turnovers or less in four of their last seven games and committed just six on Saturday against Lewis & Clark.

STRONG DEFENSIVE TEAM: Pacific continues to be one of the top defensive teams in the NWC.  The Boxers enter the week leading the NWC and 57th among Division III teams with 65.3 points allowed per gmae.  The Boxers also enter the week ranked third in the NWC and 96th among Division III teams with a .323 opponent's three-point percentage.

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 15.6 personal fouls per game, ranking the Boxers first in the NWC and 21st among NCAA Division III teams.  Pacific also ranks 33rd in Division III in fewest fouls with 359.  Pacific saw its first foul disqualifications of the season against Puget Sound on Jan. 24 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-Athlete 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.
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