FOREST GROVE – After a number of close calls over the last two weeks, Pacific finally came out on top of a tight battle.
 
Pacific pulled away from a 54-54 tie with 3:32 left Saturday, building a four-point lead with under a minute left and holding on for the 61-59 victory over Whitman in Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the Stoller Center.
 
Skyler Burgess (Jr., Riverton, Utah) hit two free throws with 3:32 left to give the Boxers the lead for good.  Riley Grandinetti (Sr., Murray, Utah) made it a 59-56 advantage with 1:24 left and later his a free throw with 40 seconds to go to give the Boxers that four-point lead, 60-56. 
 
Whitman managed to come within two on Christian McDonald's free throw with three seconds to go, but a foul on the missed second free throw gave Phillip Chircu the opportunity to tie it.  The first of his one-and-one was short and Matt Mounier gathered the offensive rebound, but could not get a shot off before time expired.
 
Bobby Ahern (Jr., Madras, Ore.) led the way for Pacific with 13 points while Proctor and Burgess each scored 11 points.  The Boxers (7-8, 2-4 NWC) finished the night shooting 40.8 percent from the field (20-49) and a solid 77.3 percent from the free throw line (17-22).
 
Mounier was the only Whitman player to score in double figures, finishing with 18 points as the Missionaries (10-5, 4-2 NWC) finished the night shooting 46.8 percent from the field (22-47), but just 25 percent from three-point range and 50 percent from three-point range.
 
Pacific took early command in what would be a high-pressure contest throughout.  The Boxers pulled away from a 7-7 tie with a 6-0 over a three-minute stretch, culminating on Michael Garcia's (Fr., Forest Grove, Ore.) three-pointer at the 11:30 mark that put the Boxers up 13-7.  Whitman rallied right back to come within one on Christian McDonald's free throw with 9:43 left.
 
The Boxers jumped back ahead five points on a pair of Proctor free throws with 6:39 left, but the Missionaries came back with a 6-0 run of their own and took the 18-17 lead on Mounier's trey with 5:18 left.  The scored was tied at 19-19 when the Boxers scored seven unanswered points, with Daniel Gunther's (Jr., San Jose, Calif.) three-pointer putting the Boxers up 26-19, a lead which would hold into halftime.
 
Whitman charged hard to open the second half, taking a 33-32 lead on Evan Martin's jumper three minutes into the period.  Neither team led by more than two points for another seven minutes until a pair of Ahern free throws gave Pacific the 46-41 advantage with 9:56 left.  The Missionaries came back to tie it at 49-49 on JoJo Wiggins' lay-in with 6:15 left.  The game would be tied two more times leading up to the exciting finish.
 
Pacific returns to action on Tuesday, going to Newberg to face George Fox.  Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m., and a live audio webcast of the game will be available at GoBoxers.com.  Whitman returns home and will host Pacific Lutheran on Friday.