SALEM, Ore. — Pacific scored 57 second half points to overcome a ten-point halftime deficit and beat Willamette in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Saturday night at the Cone Field House, 92-81.
Pacific completed the season sweep of the Bearcats and improved to 10-9 on the season and 4-6 in the NWC. Willamette dropped to 6-13 overall and to 3-7 in league action.
Five Pacific players reached double figures for the visitors.
K.C. Harrison led the way with 17 points and four assists, followed by
DeVon Pouncey with 16 points, seven boards and two blocks.
J.J. Spitler added 13 points and four assists,
Bobby Ahern had 12 points and three steals and
Daniel Gunther hit 7-of-8 free throws to finish with 11 points.
Skyler Burgess was close to a double-double with nine points and ten rebounds.
Willamette controlled the first half, leading the whole way and taking a 45-35 lead into the locker room. But the Boxers began to chip away at the lead right out of the second half gate, pulling to within one point on a Spitler three-pointer (54-53) with 13:11 left. Pacific tied it at 12:39 on a free throw by Ahern (54-54) and took the lead for good on a charity toss by
D.J. Christian less than a minute later.
Spitler added another trey at 10:30 and Harrison's three-pointer with six and a half minutes left pushed the lead to nine points (72-63). The Bearcats would get no closer than seven points after that. Pacific squashed any comeback attempt by hitting 7-of-8 free throw attempts in the final minute. Pacific hit 65 percent of its shots in the second half and was 6-of-7 from three-point range.
Willamette's Brendan McCullough led all scorers with 22 points while Bridger Harlington added 17 for the Bearcats.
The Boxers hit 9-of-22 trey attempts and converted 23-of-29 free throw attempts. They also outrebounded the Bearcats, 41-32 and outscored their hosts 57-36 in the second half.
Pacific will head east to take on the top two teams in the Northwest Conference next weekend, tackling Whitman on Friday (Feb. 5) and No. 1 nationally ranked Whitworth on Saturday (Feb. 6).
