Box Score

TACOMA, Wash. – Keeping their Northwest Conference men's basketball record perfect and moving one step closer to a league title, the 6th-ranked University of Puget Sound Loggers won their school-record 14th straight game 100-79 over the visiting George Fox University Bruins Saturday night here at Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Bruins fell to 7-14 overall and 3-9 in the NWC, while the Loggers improved to 19-2 overall and 12-0 in the league.  Puget Sound is three games ahead of Whitworth University and Lewis & Clark College in the conference standings with four games left to play.

The Bruins entered the game with hopes of pulling off the kind of upset they did last year when they stunned the Loggers 78-77 in Tacoma, and they stayed with the high-flying Loggers through the first half.  Alex Stockner's jumper gave the Bruins an early 2-0 led, but the Loggers went ahead for good on a three-point play by Jason Foster, though the home team could not put the visitors away.

Puget Sound built a nine-point lead of 22-13 with 12:14 left in the half on consecutive three-pointers by Austin Boyce, but the Bruins fought back, closing within one point at 34-33 with 5:13 to go after Jack Martin and Evan Atwater canned back-to-back treys.  Antwan Williams' two free throws with two ticks left gave the Loggers a 48-42 halftime lead.

Both teams were 17-31 (.548) from the field in the half and each made five threes, but the Loggers were 9-11 from the line while the Bruins were only 3-4.  Atwater had 14 first-half points for George Fox and Robert Krauel led Puget Sound with 10.

Williams and Nadav Heyman hit threes and Williams raced the length of the court for a layup after a Foster block to open the second half, boosting the Logger lead to 14 at 56-42, and the Bruins got no closer than 12 the remainder of the game.  The Loggers' largest lead came with 4:09 left on a dunk by Foster that made the score 93-69.

Puget Sound continued its hot shooting in the second half, hitting 19-34 for a .559 percentage to finish at .554 (36-65).  George Fox slipped to .375 (9-24) in the final period and wound up with a .473 mark (26-55).  The Bruins committed 27 turnovers against the Loggers' full-court pressure defense while forcing 19 UPS miscues.

Atwater led the Bruins with 15 points, hitting 5-7 from the field with three treys, while Steve Campbell scored 13 and Travis Toedtemeier 11 on 5-6 shooting.  Brady Strutz grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and had four assists.

Foster and Williams scored 19 apiece for the Loggers while combining to hit 14-21 from the field, Krauel had 12 on 5-6 shooting, and Boyce added 10.  Boyce had six rebounds as the Loggers won the battle of the backboards 32-31.  Williams and Foster also had four assists each.

George Fox returns to action Tuesday at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., while Puget Sound hosts Whitworth Friday in a possible title clincher.  Both games start at 8:00 p.m. following NWC women's games at 6:00 p.m.