This Week
Tuesday, Dec. 8, Pacific Boxers (5-3) vs. Evergreen State Geoducks (4-5)
Stoller Center, Forest Grove, Ore., 7:30 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific leads 5-3, Boxers won last December in Olympia, 81-71
 
After sweeping Willamette and George Fox at home to tip-off Northwest Conference play, the Boxers will step out of league action on Tuesday to host Evergreen State.
 
View from Top: Thanks to a pair of wins in early December conference action, Pacific can now enjoy sitting on top of the Northwest Conference standings for the next month—as they won't play another league encounter until January 8. The Boxers topped Willamette (72-56) and George Fox (79-64) on Friday and Saturday to jump out to a share of the NWC lead with Whitworth, Whitman, and Pacific Lutheran.
 
Chairmen of the Boards: In both wins over the weekend, the Boxers controlled the backboards, by a 16.5 margin. Pacific out-rebounded the Bearcats 44-26 and the Bruins 46-21. Michael Joseph grabbed 15 caroms against Willamette, including 13 on the defensive end of the court, and he had 11 more versus GFU. Skyler Burgess had 16 pull downs against the Bruins. In eight games this Fall, the Boxers have a +14.8 rebound advantage over their opponents.
 
Skyler skies to NWC Honor: In part due to his rebound work, Skyler Burgess was named the Northwest Conference Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week. In addition to the 24 total rebounds in the two games, the 6-5 senior forward also scored 24 and 22 points respectively against the Bearcats and Bruins. In that process, he nailed 21 of 28 shots from the field (75 percent) and also had four assists and three blocked shots. Burgess is Pacific's second NWC honoree this season, as Michael Joseph also earned the honor on Nov. 11.
 
Raining Three's: While Pacific led from start to finish against Willamette and made only a modest 5-of-15 three-point shots in their 72-56 win, the long bomb became needed against George Fox. Down by ten points in the second half (47-37), the Boxers dialed up three treys on three consecutive trips down the courts—two by Bobby Ahern and another by K.C. Harrison, to pull to within one point. A few moments later, Michael Garcia got into the action drilling a pair of long bombs, including a 30-footer—and the Boxers would never trail again. For the game, they converted 11-of-26 three-point attempts.
 
Boxer Balance: Pacific's attack through eight games shows a balanced stat sheet. Five players average in double figures for the Boxers, and only 3.8 points per game separate the leading scorer from the fifth. Skyler Burgess is on top of the list for the moment with 14.6 points per game and a team-best 9.0 rebounds. K.C. Harrison checks in at 12.5 points a game, DeVon Pouncey averages 11.7, Michael Joseph adds 10.9 points and 8.6 rebounds a contest and Bobby Ahern is next with 10.8 an outing.
 
Cleary Capsule: Pacific head coach Tim Cleary is now in his sixth season in Forest Grove. Boise State's former top assistant coach is now 61-72 on the Boxer sidelines, leading Pacific to back-to-back winning seasons in 2012-13 and 2013-14—and then just missed last year when his team finished 12-13. Pacific went 15-10 three seasons ago and 16-9 in '13-14.
 
Pre-Season Look: Pre-season No. 3 nationally ranked Whitworth is the coach's pick to win the Northwest Conference again this season. The Pirates have won eight of the last nine league titles. The poll favored Whitworth, followed by Whitman, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, Puget Sound, Pacific, George Fox, Pacific Lutheran and Linfield. The current NWC standings can be found here.
 
Probable Starters: Coach Clearly likely will send this group to the floor on Tuesday when the starters are announced.
*G—K.C. Harrison (6-2, 185, Jr., Las Vegas, Nev./Grays Harbor JC)
*G—Michael Joseph (6-1, 205, Jr., Anchorage, Alaska/Columbia Basin JC)
*G—Bobby Ahern (6-2, 200, Sr., Madras, Ore./Madras HS)
*F—Skyler Burgess (6-5, 215, Sr., Riverton, Utah/Treasure Valley JC)
*F—Nate Olowo (6-6, 210, So., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Alta Loma HS)
 
Evergreen Edits: Evergreen State comes to the Stoller Center with a 4-5 overall record and a 2-1 mark in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (NAIA). The Geoducks had their three-game win streak snapped at Warner Pacific on Saturday night (89-72), after previously running off wins against Northwest Indian College, Northwest and Multnomah. They are averaging 86.4 points a contest and have drained 9.6 three-pointers a game. Danny Powell (Jr. , 6-7, 230, Phoeniz, Ariz.) averages 19.9 points and 11.3 rebounds a contest, and has six double-doubles in his nine games. The Southeastern Oklahoma State transfer just missed twin figures in the other three games, with nine rebounds twice and eight on Saturday night. Alix Hernandez (Sr., 6-1, 200, Yakima, Wash./Pierce College) adds 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds and Brock Otis (Sr., 6-3, 190, Everett, Wash./Mt. Hood CC) checks in at 14.4 ppg. The Geoducks were picked ninth in the CCC coaches pre-season poll, after finishing just 4-21 last season and 1-17 in conference play. Head coach Tim Malroy is in his second season on the Olympia campus after spending ten years as the head coach at Green River Community College. What is a Geoduck? Basically a clam shell that is native to the west coast of North America--a very large clam that averages seven inches in length with a neck that can run up to three feet long.
 
Looking Ahead: After Tuesday's game, the Boxers will break for academic finals, and then get ready for a home encounter with Occidental (Dec. 20) and a road tilt at Portland Bible (Dec. 29).
 
Watch and Listen: Pacific's NWC home basketball games are streamed live at goboxers.com with Matt Richert handling the play-by-play. Additionally, tune in on Sunday evenings to listen to Coach Cleary on the Portland Metro Small College Hoops Podcast, hosted by Greg Crawford. The show begins at 9:30 p.m. and can be found at http://bit.ly/1x4RjqG.