MBSK: GEORGE FOX 99, CORBAN 91 - Bruins Outgun Warriors for 1st Win of New Season

NEWBERG, Ore. - With both teams red-hot from the field, the George Fox University Bruins picked up their first win of the season and gave head coach Mark Sundquist a nice birthday present by out-gunning the Corban College Warriors 99-91 in a non-conference men's basketball shootout Tuesday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

Corban came out of the blocks on fire as the Warriors hit nine of their first 10 shots to open up a 20-7 lead in the first five minutes.  Bryan Martin led the early assault, hitting three layups, a jumper, and a free throw for nine of the points. 

George Fox finally got its offense untracked, going on a 20-11 run that cut the deficit to 31-27 with 5:48 left in the half.  Evan Atwater sparked the Bruins' comeback with a three-pointer, a conventional three-point play, and two more free throws that capped the rally.  After the Warriors got the lead back up to 10 at 44-34, Atwater hit a jumper and a long three at the buzzer to keep the Bruins close at 47-41 at the break.

Corban finished the half with a sizzling .606 (20-33) from the field, with George Fox shooting .500 (16-32).  The Warriors controlled the first-half boards 22-12.  Erik Cronrath had 14 points and Ben Potloff 11 for Corban, while Atwater led George Fox with 13.

In the second half, the Warriors barely cooled off, hitting .581 (18-31), while the Bruins stepped up their pace, hitting .607 (17-28) to come from behind.  Corban opened the half by hitting its first four shots with two baskets by Deonte Johnson and one each by Ian Logan and Potloff to build their largest lead of 55-43 three minutes into the period.  George Fox fought back as Alex Stockner scored 14 points over the next seven minutes and finally trimmed the Corban lead to two with 9:26 left when Cole Whitehurst completed a three-point play to make it 73-71.

The Warriors pushed the lead back to seven at 82-75 on a layup by Johnson with 7:34 left, but the Bruins exploded for a 16-4 run over the next five minutes to take the lead.  Stockner tied the game 86-86 with a driving layup at the 3:47 mark and Stephen Wiseley put the Bruins ahead for the first time since an early 2-0 lead with a three from the left wing with 3:13 to go.  Rich Smith's layup at 2:25 made it 91-86 Bruins, and they hit 8-for-8 free throws in the final 1:44, four by Whitehurst and two each by Smith and Wiseley, to seal the win.

Stockner led all scorers with 25 points, while Atwater added 19, Wiseley 16, and Smith 14.  Whitehurst and Travis Toedtemeier just missed double digits with nine points each.  Toedtemeier had seven rebounds as the Bruins nearly caught the Warriors in that department, trailing only 31-30 after out-boarding the visitors 18-9 in the second half.  Wiseley had seven assists and five steals.  George Fox finished with a .550 mark from the field (33-60), .588 on threes (10-17), and .793 from the line (23-29).

Five Warriors scored in double figures, led by Cronrath with 21.  Potloff added 20, Logan 19, Martin 13, and Johnson 11.  Johnson led all rebounders with nine, while Potloff handed out four assists.  The Warriors connected for a .594 percentage from the floor (38-64), but only .182 (2-11) from three-point range, and .813 (13-16) from the charity stripe.

NOTES: George Fox (1-1) is off until next week when they will participate in the eight-team 62nd Annual Lee Fulmer Memorial Tournament in Redlands, Calif.  The Bruins will open with Menlo College on Thursday, Dec. 3, at 5:30 p.m.  In the same bracket with George Fox is the host University of Redlands and West Coast Baptist College, who will square off at 7:30 p.m.  In the other bracket, Willamette University and California Lutheran University meet at 1:30 p.m., followed at 3:30 p.m. by Chapman University vs. the University of California-Santa Cruz.  All game times Friday and Saturday are the same times as Thursday ... The tournament website is http://www.goredlands.com/sports/mbkb/2009-10/Fulmer ... Corban (4-2) returns home this Saturday to host Pacific University of Oregon at 7:30 p.m.