WHAT’S BRUIN: Men’s Basketball News & Notes 2/8

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

Multimedia: Live Stats / Video / KFOX Radio 

Overall Record: 11-10 (Home 5-6, Road 6-3, Neutral 0-1)

NWC Record: 8-4, 3rd T (Home 5-2, Road 3-2)

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Coming Up: Bruins to Play Critical Road Games at UPS and Willamette

* Recent Games: Bruins Close 5-Game Home Stand with Win over Pacific

* Taylor Captures Both BAA and Northwest Conference Weekly Awards

* Bruins Set or Tie Several Records in 4-Overtime Win over Lewis & Clark

* Bruins Have Two “Buzzbeaters” That May be Viewed on D3hoops.com

* NCAA Stats: Bruins Among Top 50 National Leaders in 4 Categories

* NWC Stats: Taylor Among Top 10 in NWC in Five Categories

* Statistician “Biggs” Increases Home Game Streak to 650 in a Row

* Coming Up: Bruins to Play Critical Road Games at UPS and Willamette

- Fri., Feb. 10, 8:00 pm - at University of Puget Sound (17-5, NWC 9-4), Tacoma, Wash.

- Sat., Feb. 11, 8:00 pm - at Willamette University (3-18, NWC 1-11), Salem, Ore.

NEWBERG, Ore. – Hoping to maintain their standing as one of the top four teams in the Northwest Conference in order to earn a berth in the NWC Tournament, the George Fox University Bruins will play two critical road games this weekend at the University of Puget Sound on Friday, Feb. 10, and at Willamette University on Saturday, Feb. 11.

The Bruins are 11-10 overall and tied for third in the conference at 8-4 with Whitman College, while the Puget Sound Loggers are a half-game ahead of both in second at 9-4 (17-5 overall).  Lurking a game behind in fifth at 7-5 is Pacific Lutheran University.  Willamette recently picked up its first conference win over Linfield, but the Bruins always get a tough game from the Bearcats in Salem and they cannot afford to take the ‘Cats lightly.

Both games this weekend tip off at 8:00 p.m., with NWC women’s games preceding the men at 6:00 p.m.

Multimedia: George Fox will provide live audio internet coverage through campus station KFOX for all four games this weekend; see the link above.  For multimedia coverage by the opponents, visit Puget Sound’s sports website at http://www.loggerathletics.com/information/mediacenter, and Willamette’s sports website at http://www.willamette.edu/athletics/bearcatnetwork/live/index.php.

* Upcoming Opponents:

Puget Sound (17-5, NWC 9-4, 2nd): The Loggers from Tacoma, Wash., were picked to finish 4th in the pre-season NWC coaches’ poll ... The Loggers, who started the season 10-0 and were nationally ranked at one point, went 5-5 in their next 10 games but have won their last two, the latest a 66-52 win over Pacific Lutheran on Feb. 7 as Riggs Yarbro had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Anthony Gittens had 19 points and 13 boards ... Series record (since 1965): George Fox trails 13-28 (8-10 home, 5-18 road) ... The Bruins won this year’s first meeting 86-80 on Jan. 14 ... The Loggers’ last win in the series was 66-63 in Newberg on Feb. 19, 2011 ... Puget Sound by the numbers: Scoring (74.5 ppg, 2nd in the NWC), Defense (68.3 ppg, 5th), FG% (.453, 2nd), 3-pt FG% (.338, 6th), FT% (.687, 6th), Reb Avg. (40.5, 1st) ... UPS is 8th nationally in rebounding margin (+9.0) ... The Loggers have two double-figure scorers: F Anthony Gittens (12.2 ppg, 14th), F Kaleb Shelton (10.6 ppg, 23rd) .... Gittens is the top rebounder (8.5 rpg, 2nd) ... G Rex Holmes and G Ryan Rogers are the assists leaders (2.1 apg, 14th T) ... Coach Justin Lunt (Pacific Lutheran) is 98-54 to date in his 6th season at Puget Sound ... Next game: Feb. 17 at Lewis & Clark, 8:00 p.m.

Willamette (3-18, NWC 1-11, 9th): The Bearcats from Salem, Ore., were picked to finish 6th in the pre-season NWC coaches’ poll ... The Bearcats ended a 10-game losing streak by defeating Linfield 83-78 on Feb. 3, but then dropped a 69-64 decision at Pacific on Feb. 4 despite 16 points by Ryan Meehan, 15 by Terrell Malley, and 13 by Taylor Mounts ... Series record (since 1965): George Fox trails 36-44 (21-14 home, 15-30 road) ... The Bruins have won the last five meetings, including 89-87 in overtime in Newberg on Jan. 13 in this season’s first game ... Willamette’s last win in the series was 87-82 in Newberg on Feb. 20, 2009 ... Willamette by the numbers: Scoring (73.3 ppg, 4th in the NWC), Defense (85.9 ppg, 9th), FG% (.414, 8th), 3-pt FG% (.336, 7th), FT% (.690, 5th), Reb Avg. (36.7 rpg, 3rd) ... The Bearcats have three double-figure scorers: W Taylor Mounts (16.7 ppg, 5th), W Ryan Meehan (12.2 ppg, 17th), G Terrell Malley (12.0 ppg, 19th) .... Mounts is the top rebounder (7.9 rpg, 3rd) ... G Trevos Bos is the assists leader (3.3 apg, 4th) ... Mounts is 41st nationally in double-doubles (8) ... Coach Kip Ioane (Willamette ’01) is 19-52 to date in his 4th season as head coach at Willamette ... Next game: Feb. 17 at Whitman, 8:00 p.m.

* Recent Games: Bruins Close 5-Game Home Stand with Win over Pacific

Feb. 3 - at George Fox 79, Pacific 66

With their “California connection” of former Los Angeles Verbum Dei High School teammates Mike Taylor and Anthony Sanchez combining for 41 points, the Bruins cruised to a 79-66 win over the Pacific Boxers Friday.  Taylor banked in a three-pointer and Corey Clark hit two free throws in the first minute of play as the Bruins took a quick 5-0 lead and never trailed.  Taylor soon lit up the nets with four more long-distance bombs in the space of three minutes, fueling a 14-4 outburst that gave the home team a 19-7 lead, 15 of the points by Taylor, with 15:48 left in the half.  Jon Adrian drained a three that ignited an 11-0 Bruin run over a two-minute stretch, with Taylor adding four free throws and Sanchez a layup and two free throws, to make it a 30-12 game with 11:09 to play in the period.  The Bruins hit that 18-point spread two more times before settling for 40-25 halftime lead, with Taylor scoring 21 in the half.  George Fox remained comfortably in front for the duration of the second half.  Sanchez, who scored 14 second-half points, canned a downtowner with 9:16 left to give George Fox its largest lead of the game at 67-43.  Taylor had 23 points and Sanchez 18, each hitting 7-of-12 from the field, while Sean Atkins added 15 points, 11 in the second half.  Atkins had six rebounds and three blocked shots, while Clark passed out eight assists. 

BRUIN BITS:

* Taylor Captures Both BAA and Northwest Conference Weekly Awards

Highlighted by a game-saving three-pointer in overtime in one game and a streak of 15 points in five minutes in another, George Fox wing Mike Taylor has earned both the Bruin Athletic Association Men’s Athlete of the Week award and Northwest Conference Men’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week honors for the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 5. 

Taylor, a senior from Los Angeles, Calif., scored 30 points in the Bruins’ record-setting 116-112 four-overtime win over Lewis & Clark on Jan. 31, hitting 11-26 field goals (3-11 on threes) and 5-8 free throws, with 9 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal.  His three-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the third overtime rescued the Bruins from defeat, and he hit two free throws in the fourth overtime with less than two minutes left to give the Bruins the lead for good.  In a 79-66 win over Pacific on Feb. 3, he scored 15 points, all on threes, in the first five minutes of the game, to give the Bruins an early 19-7 lead and they cruised from there.  He finished the game with 23 points on 7-12 field goals (5-9 on threes) and 4-4 free throws, with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.  For the week, he scored 53 points (26.5 ppg) on 18-38 field goals (.474), including 8-20 (.400) on threes, and 9-12 free throws (.750), with 13 rebounds (6.5 rpg), 11 assists (5.5 apg), and 2 steals.

In the latest NWC statistics, Taylor ranks 2nd in the conference in assists (4.3 apg), 4th in blocked shots (0.8 bspg, T), 6th in scoring (15.9 ppg), 9th in free throw pct. (.761) and 3-pt field goals (41), and 14th in rebounding (5.0 rpg).  He also earned BAA and honorable mention NWC honors for Nov. 28-Dec. 4, Dec. 26-Jan. 8, and Jan. 16-22.

The George Fox 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. 

2011-12 Bruin Athletic Association Men’s Athletes of the Week

Aug. 29-Sept. 4 - Jacob Baker (Soccer)

Sept. 5-11 - Luke Hammer (Soccer)

Sept. 12-18 - Mike Ulstad (Golf)

Sept. 19-25 - Shawn Aldrich (Tennis)

Sept. 26-Oct. 2 - Joseph Pia (Cross Country)

Oct. 3-9 - Chris Lumsden (Golf)

Oct. 10-16 - Luke Hammer (Soccer)

Oct. 17-23 - Aleks Gabrio (Golf)

Oct. 24-30 - Kyle Dreibelbis (Cross Country)

Oct. 31-Nov. 6 - Elliott Davis (Soccer)

Nov. 7-13 - Kyle Dreibelbis (Cross Country)

Nov. 14-20 - Corey Clark (Basketball)

Nov. 21-27 - A.J. Grant (Basketball)

Nov. 28-Dec. 4 - Mike Taylor (Basketball)

Dec. 5-11 - Sean Atkins (Basketball)

Dec. 12-25 - Anthony Sanchez (Basketball)

Dec. 26-Jan. 8 - Mike Taylor (Basketball)

Jan. 9-15 - Sean Atkins (Basketball)

Jan. 16-22 - Mike Taylor (Basketball)

Jan. 23-29 - Sean Atkins (Basketball)

Jan. 30-Feb. 5 - Mike Taylor (Basketball)