On four occasions in the second half, the Pacific University men's basketball team managed to cut the deficit to three to visiting Linfield. However, it was the Wildcats, who had the answer as they came away with a 93-91 win on Friday night in the Northwest Conference opener for both teams.
 
Pacific (3-7, 0-1 NWC) senior Davis Holly led four Boxers in double figures with 16 points in the loss. Senior Marcus Wallace added 12 points, who was in double figures for the 10^th-straight game, plus junior Mario Mora and senior Andy Iskpehi chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Linfield (7-3, 1-0 NWC) erased a seven-point deficit, 37-30, with 14 unanswered points midway through the first half en route to the win. Six Wildcats scored in double figures including Grant Gibb, who accounted for a game-high 20 points on four 3-pointers. He was joined in double figures by five others including Aaron Baune (17 points), Will Burghardt (12 points), Max Lommen (12 points), Dempsey Roggenbuck (11 points) and Tanner Autencio (10 points).
 
The Boxers found themselves behind nine, 22-13 with 13:15 left in the opening half. Pacific clawed back with a 15-3 run on the strength of back-to-back 3-pointers by Mora to take a 28-25 lead.
 
Later in the half, Pacific went on a 7-0 spurt as Brennen McNabb drove in for a layup to put the host Boxers ahead 37-30 with 7:24 left in the first 20 minutes. The seven-point lead would later be erased before the decisive 14-0 run by the visitors.
 
Next up for Pacific is a trip to Lewis & Clark on Saturday at 6 p.m. to wrap up the opening weekend of Northwest Conference play.