November 24, 2010

WHAT’S BRUIN: Men’s Basketball News & Notes 11/24

Links: Quick Facts / Roster / Schedule & Results / Statistics / Press Releases

Multimedia: Live Stats / Video / KFOX Radio

Overall Record: 0-3 (Home 0-2, Road 0-1, Neutral 0-0)

NWC Record: 0-0 (Home 0-0, Road 0-0)

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Coming Up: Northwest Conference Opener at Willamette

* Recent Games: Bruins Drop Three Close Ones to NAIA Teams

* Whitehurst Wins BAA Award, HM for NWC Weekly Honor

* NWC Stats: Five Bruins Listed Among Early League Leaders

* Career Lists: Wiseley Remains Atop Career Free Throw Chart

* Statistician “Biggs” Approaches 700 Straight Games

* Coming Up:

- Tue., Nov. 30, 8 pm - at Willamette University (1-2, NWC 0-0), Salem, Ore.

NEWBERG, Ore. – After close losses totaling 16 points to three NAIA and Cascade Collegiate Conference teams who are a collective 14-3 to start the season, the George Fox Bruins hope to pick up their first win as they begin Northwest Conference play Tuesday, Nov. 30, against the Willamette Bearcats in Salem, Ore.

The Willamette match will be the second in a stretch of nine straight games on the road for the Bruins, who will not play at home again until Jan. 8. It will also be part of a conference doubleheader, with the women’s teams to play at 6:00 p.m. before the men’s clash. The game at Willamette and on Dec. 4 at Pacific Lutheran University will mark the first time since the 2006-07 season that conference games have been played before the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Willamette will provide live stats and a live webcast of the game on Tuesday, while George Fox campus station KFOX will have live audio of the game. Links for all are provided below:

Willamette live stats: http://www.willamette.edu/athletics/bsn/live_stats/index.php

Willamette webcast: http://www.willamette.edu/athletics/bsn/webcast/stream/basketball/index.php

George Fox KFOX live audio: http://www.georgefox.edu/offices/asc/kfoxradio/

Willamette (1-2, NWC 0-0): The Bearcats from Salem, Ore., were picked to finish 7th in the Northwest Conference pre-season poll, the Bruins 4th (T) ... Willamette dropped a 102-90 decision at Northwest Christian in their latest game on Nov. 20, despite 31 points and 12 rebounds from NWC Player of the Week Sean Dart, 22 points from Taylor Mounts, and 10 assists from Robbie Kunke ... Series record (since 1965): George Fox trails 33-44 (19-14 home, 14-30 road) ... The Bruins swept the Bearcats last year, 87-74 in Newberg on Jan. 15 and 89-81 in Salem on Feb. 12 ... The Bearcats’ last win was 87-82 in Newberg on Feb. 20, 2009 ... In NWC stats, Willamette is 2nd in rebounding (36.3), 3rd in scoring (87.7), assists (16.33), turnover margin (+3.00,T), 5th in blocked shots (2.00, T), steals (7.00, T), 3-pt field goals (6.67, T), 7th in free throw pct. (.656), 3-pt pct. (.256), 8th in defense (101.7), scoring margin (-14.0), field goal pct. (.422), 9th in rebounding margin (-11.0) ... The Bearcats have four double-figure scorers: P Sean Dart (22.0, 3rd in the NWC), W Taylor Mounts (20.7, 4th), G Marcus Holmes (16.7, 10th), and W Ryan Meehan (15.3, 15th) ... Mounts is the top rebounder (8.7, 1st T) ... PG Robbie Kunke is the assists leader (9.00, 1st) ... Dart is 2nd in the NWC in field goal pct. (.794) ... Kunke is 2nd in the NWC in steals (2.33) ... Holmes is 3rd in the NWC in 3-pt field goals (3.33) ... Coach Kip Ioane is 10-18 to date is his 2nd season ... Willamette plays Corban and either Pacifica or Western Oregon in the Capital City Classic in Monmouth, Ore., Nov. 26-27 before meeting the Bruins ... Next: Dec. 3 at Puget Sound, 8 pm.

* Recent Games: Bruins Drop Three Close Ones to NAIA Teams

Nov. 19 - Corban 95, at George Fox 90

The visiting Warriors shot over 50% from the field in both halves while the Bruins shot 62% in the first but only 34% in the second and dropped their season opener. The Bruins held a 10-point lead at the half, but a five-minute scoring drought midway through the second half enabled the Warriors to surge ahead. Mike Taylor, in his first game since transferring from Division I Marist, scored a career-high 30 points, 22 in the first half, and Cole Whitehurst also achieved a new personal mark with 25 points. Stephen Wiseley added 18 points and 8 assists, and Rich Smith scored 14. Taylor had a team-high 7 rebounds.

Nov. 20 - Northwest 86, at George Fox 81

The Bruins had no answer for 6-8 center Greg Peters, who led the visiting Eagles to victory with a double-double of 21 points and 22 rebounds. The Bruins were down by nine with nine minutes to play before closing within two,but the Eagles hit 7-9 free throws in the final minute to hang on. Rich Smith led a quintet of Bruins in double figures with 22 points, followed by Cole Whitehurst with 18 (including 10-10 from the line), Mike Taylor with 13, Stephen Wiseley with 11, and Cam Rier with 10. Whitehurst had a team-high 9 rebounds, and Wiseley passed out 8 assists.

Nov. 23 - at Northwest Christian 78, George Fox 72

A 15-2 run to close the first half gave the Beacons a 10-point halftime lead in their home opener, enough for them to fight off a desperation comeback bid by the Bruins and snap a seven-game losing streak to George Fox. The Bruins rallied from 12 down with six minutes left to within four in just over two minutes, but the Eagles hit 7-8 free throws in the last minute to hold on. Stephen Wiseley led the Bruins with 18 points and 3 assists, while Rich Smith added 17 points, Mike Taylor 16 with a team-high 8 rebounds, and Cole Whitehurst contributed 15 points and 4 steals.

BRUIN BITS:

* Whitehurst Wins BAA Award, HM for NWC Weekly Honor

Two outstanding games against NAIA opponents in the Bruins’ 0-2 week has earned wing Cole Whitehurst the Bruin Athletic Association Men’s Athlete of the Week award and honorable mention for Northwest Conference Men’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week for games of Nov. 15-21.

In a season-opening 95-90 loss to Corban on Nov. 19, Whitehurst scored a career-high 25 points on 9-14 field goals and 7-12 free throws, with 6 rebounds. In an 86-81 setback to Northwest on Nov. 20, he tallied 18 points on 4-9 field goals and 10-10 free throws, with 9 rebounds and a steal. In two games, he collected 43 points (21.5 ppg) on 13-23 field goals (.565) and 17-22 free throws (.773), with 15 rebounds (7.5 rpg) and a steal.

Whitehurst, a 6-4 junior from Portland, Ore., currently ranks 7th in the conference in scoring (19.3), 8th in steals (1.67, T), and 10th in rebounding (6.7, T).

The Athlete of the Week Award for both men and women is presented throughout the Bruin sports seasons by the Bruin Athletic Association, whose mission is to provide George Fox student-athletes with an outstanding athletic and academic experience and to strengthen the overall competitiveness of the Bruin athletics program. For more information about the organization or to become a member, visit the Bruin Athletic Association website.

* 2010-11 Honors

Cole Whitehurst

- Bruin Athletic Association Athlete of the Week - Nov. 15-21

- Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week - HM, Nov. 15-21

* NWC Stats (thru Nov. 23): Five Bruins Listed Among Early League Leaders

- George Fox is 3rd in rebounding (36.0), blocked shots (2.67), 4th in scoring (81.0), steals (7.33), 5th in 3-pt field goal pct. defense (.364, T), 6th in scoring margin (-5.3), field goal pct. (.459), field goal pct. defense (.473), free throw pct. (.676), rebounding defense (40.3), rebound margin (-4.3), assists (13.67), turnover margin (+0.33), assist/TO ratio (0.93), 7th in defense (86.3), 8th in 3-pt field goal pct. (.250), 3-pt field goals (5.00) …

- Mike Taylor is 5th in scoring (19.7), 10th in 3-pt field goals (2.33), 17th in rebounding (5.7) ...

- Cole Whitehurst is 7th in scoring (19.3), 8th in steals (1.67, T), 10th in rebounding (6.7, T) …

- Rich Smith is 3rd in blocked shots (1.00, T), 9th in scoring (17.7), 12th in rebounding (6.3), 14th in field goal pct. (.533) …

- Stephen Wiseley is 2nd in assists (6.33), 10th in assist/TO ratio (1.12), 14th in scoring (15.7) ...

- Davis Martin is 2nd in blocked shots (1.67) ...

* Double-Doubles

- Rich Smith: season 0, career 6

* Career Lists: Wiseley Remains Atop Career Free Throw Chart

- Stephen Wiseley: With a 10-13 start to the season in free throw shooting, Wiseley has a career free throw percentage of .877 (100-114), which is 1st all-time at George Fox. In 2nd place is Gary Chenault (.870, 195-2242, 1976-79) ...

* Statistician “Biggs” Approaches 700 Straight Games

With three games to open the season, two at home and one on the road, long-time Bruin statistician Mike “Biggs” Wirta continues to extend his streaks of covering George Fox men’s basketball games. He has now seen 695 consecutive games, both home and away, and has worked 631 straight home games, not missing one 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 (1,106 of 2,133 for 51.85%) in the 106-plus seasons of Bruin basketball.

* Head Coach Mark Sundquist

Head coach Mark Sundquist (Seattle Pacific ’87) is 103-151 (.406, 55-56 home, 36-81 road, 12-14 neutral) to date in his 11th season at George Fox … He became the second-winningest coach in Bruin history, breaking a tie with Lorin Miller (99-72, 1970-76), when he picked up his 100th coaching win in a 103-90 victory over Whitman at home on Feb. 5, 2010. The all-time leader is Mark Vernon (318-218, 1982-2000) … He was the Northwest Conference Coach of the Year in 2004-05 … … Against Willamette, he is 6-14 (4-6 home, 2-8 away).