With the game tied for the sixth time, the senior tandem of Michael Joseph (Anchorage, Alaska) and K.C. Harrison (Las Vegas, Nevada) scored on consecutive possessions to lead the Pacific University men's basketball team to a 61-59 win over Redlands on Saturday in Santa Cruz, California.
 
Joseph made a pair of free throws and a Harrison 3-pointer put the Boxers ahead 52-48 with 6:09 left to play. Pacific extended the lead to as much as much as eight en route to its third-consecutive win, who are now 3-1 on the season. It is the sixth year in a row that the Boxers have posted a three-game winning streak.
 
The Bulldogs (0-1) did not go away in the closing minutes, missing a pair of chances in the final seconds. Reserve Joey Sponheim scored 10 points to pace the Bulldogs. Redlands led by as much as nine in the first half in the defeat.
 
Pacific University head coach Tim Cleary noted that it was a game that the Boxers won on the defensive end of the floor. After allowing Redlands to shoot 41.4% in the first half, the intense Pacific defense held the Bulldogs to a 29.4% effort in the final 20 minutes. "Redlands is a team, who matches up with our size, so it was a smash mouth kind of a game. J.J. Spitler (Bend, Ore.) was huge for us in the first half and Nick Edens (Bainbridge Harbor, Wash.) gave us some quality minutes when we needed them. The energy we got from our bench from the guys, who didn't get in was amazing. It was a game truly won by all 13 guys."
 
Off the bench, Spitler scored 12 first half points and Edens in nine minutes of action had a basket and four rebounds in the win. Spitler was joined in double figures for the game as Joseph had his second career double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, junior J.B. Ewell (Portland, Ore.) scored 11 points and Harrison added 10. Also on the stat sheet were the efforts of junior Nate Olowo (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), who had eight points and nine rebounds and junior Christopher Evans (Seaside, Calif.) had four points, four assists and six rebounds in a reserve role.
 
Pacific scored the first 10 points of the second half to overcome a two-point, 30-28, halftime deficit lead for a 38-30 lead with 16:41 to play. The Bulldogs answered the Pacific run with eight unanswered points to tie the game at 38. The game remained close, but it was the pair of free throws by Joseph after an offensive rebound that sparked the Boxers.
 
Next for Pacific is the start of the rigorous Northwest Conference play when they will face George Fox on Friday, December 2 at 8 p.m. in Newberg.