WHAT’S BRUIN: Weekly News & Notes

Overall Record: 5-10 (Home 3-4, Road 1-5, Neutral 1-1)
Northwest Conference: 1-5, 9th (Home 1-2, Road 0-3)

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HIGHLIGHTS:

* Coming Up: NWC Road Games at Willamette and PLU
* Recent Games: Bruins Notch First NWC Win over Linfield

* Stockner Again BAA Athlete of the Week, HM for NWC Honors

* NCAA Stats: Martin Ranked 34th in Assists Per Game

* NWC Stats: Martin in Top 10 in Four Categories

* The Wirta Watch: “Biggs” Adds Another Game to List of Streaks

* COMING UP: NWC Road Games at Willamette and PLU

Fri., Jan. 23, 8:00 pm - at Willamette University, in Salem, Ore.

Sat, Jan. 24, 8:00 pm - at Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, Wash.

The first half of Northwest Conference play concludes this weekend as the Bruins visit Willamette and Pacific Lutheran.  Cone Fieldhouse in Salem has not proven kind to the Bruins recently, as they have not beaten the Bearcats on their home floor since 1996.  PLU is the second-highest scoring team and top rebounding team in the conference.  Both games this weekend are NWC twinbills, with the women’s games preceeding at 6:00 p.m.  Campus station KFOX Radio will webcast both games.  Links to George Fox multimedia coverage when provided:

KFOX radio webcasts - http://www.georgefox.edu/offices/asc/kfoxradio/

LiveStats - http://academic.georgefox.edu/~sports/xlive.htm

Live video streaming - http://media.georgefox.edu/bruinsports.html

Willamette (7-5, NWC 3-2, 4th): The Willamette Bearcats from Salem, Ore., were picked 3rd in the Northwest Conference pre-season coaches’ poll, the Bruins 9th … The Bearcats are coming off a 75-73 win at Lewis & Clark that took 48 hours to complete.  Due to a power outage at L&C, the first half was played on Saturday, and the second half was completed on Monday … Series record: George Fox trails 30-43 since 1967 (18-13 home, 12-30 road) … The teams split last year, the Bearcats winning 73-71 in overtime in Salem on Jan. 11 before the Bruins won 58-57 in Newberg on Feb. 8 when Brent Satern scored 10 straight unanswered points for GFU in the final two-and-a-half minutes … Willamette averages 76.4 ppg (6th in the NWC) and allows 75.3 ppg (6th) … Willamette leads the NWC in 3-pt pct. (.392, 41st nationally) … The Bearcats have two double-figure scorers: Cameron Mitchell (18.0, 3rd), Kyler McClary (14.2, 11th) … Mitchell is the top rebounder (11.2, 1st, 6th nationally) … Robbie Kunke is the assists leader (5.08, 3rd) … Coach Gordie James is 341-216 to date in his 22nd season at Willamette … Next game: Jan. 24 at Puget Sound, 6:00 p.m.

Pacific Lutheran (7-7, NWC 1-4, 8th): The Pacific Lutheran Lutes from Tacoma, Wash., were picked 8th in the Northwest Conference pre-season coaches’ poll, the Bruins 9th … The Lutes are coming off an 88-60 loss at Whitworth in which they trailed 57-14 at the half … Series record: George Fox trails 11-16 since 1985 (7-6 home, 4-10 road) … The Lutes have won the last four meetings, including a sweep last year, 61-58 in Newberg on Jan. 4 and 79-76 in Tacoma in overtime on Feb. 1 … The Bruins’ last win in the series was 93-92 in Tacoma on Feb. 17, 2006 … PLU averages 82.0 ppg (2nd in the NWC, 27th nationally) and allows 82.1 ppg (8th) … PLU leads the NWC in rebounding (39.4) and assists (16.79, 24th nationally) … The Lutes have three double-figure scorers: Kyle MacTaggart (12.5, 17th), Victor Bull (10.5, 24th), Nick Stackhouse (10.2, 25th) … Bull is the top rebounder (6.0, 9th) … James Conti and Gabe Smith are the assists leaders (3.00, 10th) … Smith is 25th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.44) … Coach Steve Dickerson is 27-34 to date in his 3rd season at PLU … The Lutes host Linfield Friday before meeting the Bruins … Next game: Jan. 27 at Pacific, 7:00 p.m., rescheduled from Jan. 9 due to flood conditions in Washington.

* RECENT GAMES (1-0): Bruins Notch First NWC Win over Linfield

Jan. 17 - at George Fox 71, Linfield 67

Overcoming a 15-0 run by Linfield to open the second half that dropped them from nine up at the half to six down, the Bruins refused to fold and battled back for a 71-67 win over the Wildcats Saturday for their first Northwest Conference victory of the season.  Jack Martin led the way for the Bruins with 16 points and Travis Toedtemeier added 11, hitting a trio of three-pointers in the opening half to help the Bruins build their lead.  Grant Vahalla and Dan Lingenfelder each hit a pair of crucial free throws in the final 17 seconds as the Bruins hung on to defeat their Yamhill County rivals.

COACH MARK SUNDQUIST:

Mark Sundquist (Seattle Pacific '89) is 87-127 (.407) to date in his ninth season as a college head coach, all at George Fox. He was the NWC Coach of the Year in 2004-05 for leading the Bruins to an 18-7 record and 2nd place in the conference. Click here for the complete bio on Coach Sundquist.

Sundquist vs. upcoming opponents:
Willamette - 3-13 (3-5 home, 0-8 road)

Pacific Lutheran - 8-8 (4-4 home, 4-4 road)

BRUIN BITS:

* Stockner Again BAA Athlete of the Week, HM for NWC Honors

Junior post Alex Stockner has been named the Bruin Athletic Association Men’s Athlete of the Week for Jan. 12-18 and received honorable mention for the Northwest Conference Men’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week, the second straight week for him to be so honored.  In a 76-66 loss to Pacific on Jan. 13, he scored a team-high 16 points on 6-12 field goals (1-4 on threes) and 3-5 free throws, with 9 rebounds.  In a 71-67 win over Linfield on Jan. 17, he scored 6 points on 2-7 field goals and 2-4 free throws, with a team-leading 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.  In two games, he totaled 22 points (11.0 ppg) on 8-19 field goals (.421), including 1-5 three-pointers (.200), and 5-9 free throws (.556), with 14 rebounds (7.0 rpg), 3 assists and 2 steals.  He has been the BAA Athlete of the Week and honorable mention for NWC Student-Athlete of the Week four times this season.  Stockner is 6th in the NWC in field goal pct. (.560), 12th in rebounding (5.3), 14th in scoring (13.6) …

* 2008-09 Honors:

Evan Atwater ---
- Bruin Athletic Association Men's Athlete of the Week (Nov. 17-23; Dec. 29-Jan. 4)
- Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week (HM, Nov. 17-23; HM, Dec. 15-Jan. 4)

Jack Martin ---
- Bruin Athletic Association Men's Athlete of the Week (Nov. 24-30)
- Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week (HM, Nov. 24-30)

Alex Stockner ---
- Bruin Athletic Association Men's Athlete of the Week (Dec. 1-7; Dec. 8-14; Jan. 5-11; Jan. 12-18)
- Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week (HM, Dec. 1-7; HM, Dec. 8-14; HM, Jan. 5-11; HM, Jan. 12-18)

* NCAA Stats: Martin Ranked 34th in Assists Per Game

In the latest NCAA national statistics (thru Jan. 18), Jack Martin was 34th in assists (5.5) …

* NWC Stats: Martin in Top 10 in Four Categories

Where the Bruins rank in the latest Northwest Conference stats (thru Jan. 20):
Scoring Offense – 8th (70.9)
Scoring Defense – 7th (78.1)
Scoring Margin – 9th (-7.3)
Field Goal Pct. - 6th (.441)
Field Goal Pct. Defense – 5th (.459)
3-Pt Field Goals – 6th (6.87)
3-Pt Field Goal Pct. – 8th (.307)
3-Pt Field Goal Pct. Defense – 8th (.387)
Free Throw Pct. – 9th (.654)
Rebounding Offense – 6th (36.6)
Rebounding Defense - 5th (36.7)
Rebounding Margin – 6th (-0.1)
Assists – 4th (15.67)
Blocked Shots - 8th (1.27)
Steals – 8th (5.07)
Turnover Margin – 8th (-3.53)
Assist/Turnover Ratio – 6th (0.96)

- Jack Martin is 2nd in assists (5.53), 3rd in 3-pt field goals (2.60), 7th in assist/turnover ratio (1.63), 9th in steals (1.33, T), 12th in 3-pt pct. (.382), 15th in scoring (13.3) …
- Evan Atwater is 9th in 3-pt field goals (1.80), 13th in free throw pct. (.729), 16th in scoring (12.8) ...

- Alex Stockner is 6th in field goal pct. (.560), 12th in rebounding (5.3), 14th in scoring (13.6) …
- Travis Toedtemeier is 13th in rebounding (4.9) ...
- Bryan O’Connell is 16th in rebounding (4.4, T) …

* The Wirta Watch: “Biggs” Adds Another Game to List of Streaks

Mike "Biggs" Wirta, who has been charting basketball statistics for the George Fox men's team since the 1970-71 season while he was an undergraduate student, continues to add to his incredible streaks of attendance at GFU men’s games.  With the Bruins’ home game against Linfield, he has now seen 654 straight games, home and away.  He has worked 456 straight men’s home games, not missing a one at home since 1972 when he was in military service. In all, he has seen over half of all games ever played by the George Fox men’s team (1,066 of 2,093 for 50.93%) in the 105 years of Bruin basketball.