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WHAT’S BRUIN: Men’s Basketball News & Notes 12/15
Links: Quick Facts / Roster / Schedule & Results / Statistics / Press Releases
Multimedia: Live Stats / Video / KFOX Radio
Overall Record: 1-5 (Home 0-2, Road 1-32, Neutral 0-0)
NWC Record: 1-1, 3rd T (Home 0-0, Road 1-1)
HIGHLIGHTS:
* Coming Up: Bruins to Visit Northwest, Corban before Christmas Break
* Recent Games: Bruins Drop First D-I Game in 33 Years at Portland State
* Smith Wins BAA Award, HM for NWC Honors for 2nd Straight Week
* NWC Stats: Wiseley, Smith Among NWC Leaders in 5 Categories
* Career Lists: Wiseley Remains in Top Spot in All-Time FT Pct.
* Statistician “Biggs” Will Make It 700 Straight Games on Monday
* Coming Up: Bruins to Visit Northwest, Corban before Christmas Break
- Fri., Dec. 18, 5:30 pm - at Northwest University (4-2), Kirkland, Wash.
- Mon., Dec. 20, 7:30 pm - at Corban University (), Salem, Ore.
NEWBERG, Ore. – Concluding their pre-Christmas men’s basketball schedule with two more road games, the George Fox Bruins will take on two tough NAIA Division II opponents in the Northwest Eagles on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and the Corban Warriors on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
The two games over the coming weekend will be the fifth and sixth in a series of ten straight away from home for the Bruins, who will not play at home again until Jan. 8. The Bruins have already met their two upcoming opponents earlier this season, opening the campaign with a 95-90 loss to Corban, followed by an 86-81 setback to Northwest, both at home.
There will be no KFOX radio webcasts of the Bruin games this weekend. Fans may follow the games through the links listed below:
Northwest live stats - http://www.northwestu.edu/athletics/livestats/
Northwest live video - http://northwest.nmtvsports.com/
Corban live stats - http://www.sidearmstats.com/corban/mbball/index.htm
Corban live video - http://corban.nmtvsports.com
The Bruins will return to action between Christmas and New Year’s with three non-conference games in southern California Dec. 28-31.
Northwest (9-2): The Eagles from Kirkland, Wash., were picked to tie for 2nd in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, while the Bruins were picked to tie for 4th in the Northwest Conference ... The Eagles have won all four games they have played against NWC teams this year ... The Eagles have won their last two games, the latest a 93-62 win over Corban on Nov. 11 in which Greg George scored a team-high 14 points and Greg Peters had a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds ... Northwest is ranked 14th in the latest NAIA D-II poll ... Series record (since 1965): Tied 13-13 (GFU is 6-6 home, 7-7 road) ... The Eagles have won the last four meetings, including an 86-81 win in Newberg on Nov. 20 this year. Rich Smith had 22 points and Cole Whitehurst 18 points with 9 rebounds for the Bruins in that game, while Peters had 21 points and 22 rebounds and Rich Skillman 19 points for the Eagles ... The Bruins’ last win in the series was 65-52 in Newberg on Dec. 8, 2007 ... Northwest averages 85.5 points per game while allowing 67.9, pulls down 43.5 rebounds a game, and shoots .469 from the field, .411 on threes, and .683 from the line ... The Eagles have three double-figure scorers: F Greg Peters (12.6), G Jordan Call (12.6), and F Greg George (11.4) ... Peters is the top rebounder (9.5) ... G Stedman Richardson is the assists leader (4.27) ... Coach John Van Dyke is in his 11th season at Northwest ... Next: Dec. 22 vs. Pacific (Ore.), 5:30 p.m.
Corban (7-4): The Warriors from Salem, Ore., were picked to finish 7th in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, while the Bruins were picked to tie for 4th in the Northwest Conference ... The Warriors have dropped their last three games, the latest a 93-62 setback at Northwest on Nov. 11 in which Erik Cronrath scored a team-high 16 points ... Series record (since 1965): George Fox leads 53-35 (28-15 home, 25-20 road) ... The Warriors have won the last two meetings, including 95-90 in Newberg on Nov. 19 in this year’s season opener. Mike Taylor scored 30 points, Cole Whitehurst 25, and Stephen Wiseley 18 with 8 assists for the Bruins in that game, while Cronrath had 25 points, Jordan Carter 19, and Ian Logan 17 for the Warriors ... The Bruins’ last win in the series was 99-91 in Newberg on Nov. 24, 2009 ... Corban averages 82.3 points per game while allowing 80.8, pulls down 39.7 rebounds a game, and shoots .459 from the field, .350 on threes, and .730 from the line ... The Warriors have three double-figure scorers: F Erik Cronrath (17.2), G Jordan Carter (14.1), and C Ian Logan (11.5) ... Logan is the top rebounder (7.5) ... Carter is the assists leader (3.36) ... Coach Justin Sherwood, a former assistant coach at George Fox, is 113-144 to date in his 9th season at Corban ... The Warriors will host Multnomah and Pacific (Ore.) and go to New Hope Christian this week before meeting the Bruins ... Next: Dec. 30 vs. Oregon Tech, 5:30 p.m.
* Recent Games: Bruins Drop First D-I Game in 33 Years at Portland State
Dec. 9 - at Portland State 92, George Fox 58
Playing against an NCAA Division I opponent for the first time in 33 seasons, the Bruins made a game of it for the first 10 minutes before the Portland State Vikings ran away with a 92-58 victory. After falling behind early 17-4, the Bruins rallied behind eight straight points from Mike Taylor to tie the game 21-21 with 11 minutes left in the first half, but the Vikings went on a 28-7 run to close the period and pull away. Rich Smith fell one rebound short of a double-double with 16 points and 9 boares, and Taylor finished with 11 points. Matt Zandbergen had a perfect shooting night, making 3-3 field goals and 2-2 free throws for a career-high 8 points, while Cole Whitehurst and Corey Clark each handed out 3 assists.
BRUIN BITS:
* Smith Wins BAA Award, HM for NWC Honors for 2nd Straight Week
A near double-double in the Bruins’ first game against an NCAA Division I opponent in 33 seasons has earned senior post Rich Smith of Bremerton, Wash., the Bruin Athletic Association Men’s Athlete of the Week for Dec. 6-12 and honorable mention for NWC Men’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week, the second straight week for him to garner both.
In the Bruins’ 92-58 loss at Portland State on Dec. 9, Smith scored 16 points on 7-17 field goals, including 2-4 from three-point range, while pulling down 9 rebounds. He also recorded 2 blocked shots and an assist against the D-I Vikings. He had 12 of his 16 in the first half when he went 5-8 from the field, helping the Bruins to a 21-21 tie with 11 minutes left in the period before the Viks pulled away.
Smith currently ranks 3rd in the NWC in blocked shots (1.00), 5th in rebounding (7.5), 10th in scoring (16.5), and 14th in steals (1.17) and field goal pct. (.488).
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
Stephen Wiseley
- Bruin Athletic Association Athlete of the Week - Nov. 22-28
- Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week - HM, Nov. 22-28
Rich Smith
- Bruin Athletic Association Athlete of the Week - Nov. 29-Dec. 5; Dec. 6-12
- Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week - HM, Nov. 29-Dec. 5; HM, Dec. 6-12
* NWC Stats: Wiseley, Smith Among NWC Leaders in 5 Categories
- Thru games of Dec. 12, George Fox is 2nd in blocked shots (2.17), 6th in 3-pt field goals (5.50), 3-pt field goal pct. defense (.336), steals (6.33), assist/TO ratio (0.72), 7th in scoring (73.8), free throw pct. (.676), field goal pct. defense (.456), rebounding (35.8), assists (11.33), turnover margin (-0.50, T), 8th in defense (85.5), field goal pct. (.416), 3-pt field goal pct. (.280), 9th in scoring margin (-11.7), rebounding defense (43.7), rebound margin (-7.8) …
- Stephen Wiseley is 3rd in assists (4.60), 8th in assist/TO ratio (0.82), 10th in free throw pct. (.783), 11th in scoring (16.4), 14th in 3-pt field goals (1.60)...
- Rich Smith is 3rd in blocked shots (1.00), 5th in rebounding (7.5), 10th in scoring (16.5), 14th in steals (1.17), field goal pct. (.488) …
- Mike Taylor is 5th in scoring (17.7, T), 7th in 3-pt field goals (2.33), 9th in steals (1.33, T), 13th in 3-pt field goal pct. (.333, T), 17th in rebounding (5.5, T) ...
- Cole Whitehurst is 9th in steals (1.33, T), 19th in scoring (12.8), 20th in rebounding (5.2, T) …
- Davis Martin is 4th in blocked shots (0.83) ...
* Double-Doubles
- Rich Smith: season 1, career 7 - 24 pts, 14 reb at Willamette, 11/30
* Career Lists: Wiseley Remains in Top Spot in All-Time FT Pct.
- Stephen Wiseley: Because of an ankle sprain suffered during a practice earlier in the week, Wiseley did not play in the Bruins’ game at Portland State and his career free throw percentage remains at .871 (108-124), currently the best figure in Bruin history. Gary Chenault (.870, 195-224, 1976-79) is second ...
* Statistician “Biggs” Will Make It 700 Straight Games on Monday
With the Bruins’ game at Portland State on Dec. 9, long-time Bruin statistician Mike “Biggs” Wirta extended his streak of George Fox men’s basketball games covered, home and way, to 698 in a row. He should hit 700 in a row this week with games at Northwest on Dec. 18 and at Corban on Dec. 20. He has also 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 (1,109 of 2,136 for 51.92%) in the 106-plus seasons of Bruin basketball.
* Head Coach Mark Sundquist
Head coach Mark Sundquist (Seattle Pacific ’87) is 104-153 (.405, 55-56 home, 37-83 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 Northwest, he is 4-11 (2-5 home, 2-6 road) ... Against Corban, he is 6-4 (5-1 home, 1-3 road).
