TACOMA, Wash. - Evan Atwater went over 1,000 points for his George Fox University career and the visiting Bruins out-scored the University of Puget Sound Loggers 53-31 over the final 16 minutes of the game to take home an 87-75 victory in Northwest Conference men's basketball action Friday night here at Memorial Fieldhouse.

George Fox improved to 9-10 overall and 6-4 in the conference, while Puget Sound slipped to 7-11 overall and 3-6 in the league.  The win was the 99th for George Fox head coach Mark Sundquist, tying him with Lorin Miller for second in career wins among Bruin cage coaches.  Tops on the list is Mark Vernon, who won 318.

Puget Sound scored the first six points of the game on two jumpers in the lane by Kaleb Shelton around two free throws by Nadav Heyman before Atwater, who entered the game with 998 career points, got the Bruins on the board with a layup at the 17:27 mark.  Atwater became the 34th player in the Bruins' 106-year history to reach that level, and finished the game with 1,008 in all to pass Mike Rasmussen (1,004) for 33rd place. 

After the Loggers stretched the lead to 10-2 on a basket by Austin Boyce, the Bruins battled back to tie it 15-15 with 11:10 left in the half when Jack Martin sank every free throw after being fouled on a three-point attempt.  Cole Whitehurst gave the Bruins as 16-15 lead with a charity toss with 10 minutes left, but Edric Egberuare hit two shots and Conner Gehring a layup as the Loggers regained the lead 21-16 with 7:09 to go.  The Loggers built their advantage to 12 points on a jumper by David Aberg with 34 seconds left before Stephen Wiseley scored for the Bruins with four seconds to go to make it 38-28 UPS at the break.

The Loggers were still up by 10 with 16 minutes left in the game when the Bruins caught fire, using a 20-9 run, the last seven points by Whitehurst, over the next 6:15 to go ahead 54-53. Two free throws by Colin Koach and a three-pointer by Heyman gave Puget Sound a four-point lead, but baskets by Wiseley and Whitehurst enabled the Bruins to forge a 58-58 tie before Egberuare's free throw gave the Loggers one final lead of 59-58 with 7:41 left.

Travis Toedtemeier gave the Bruins the lead for good with a trey eight seconds later, igniting a 29-16 George Fox run to the end.  Alex Stockner led the way in the winning rally with 10 points, and the Bruins hit 12 of 14 free throws in the final three minutes to keep the Loggers at bay.  The Bruins shot .581 (18-31) from the floor in the second half.

For the second time this season, the Bruins had six players reach double figures in points.  Stockner topped the team with 19 points, followed by Wiseley with 18, Whitehurst with 13, Toedtemeier and Rich Smith with 12 each, and Atwater with 10.  The Bruins shot .527 (29-55) for the game from the field, .846 (22-26) from the free throw line, and held a 35-29 rebound advantage.  Stockner had a game-high eight rebounds, and Wiseley handed out four assists.

Boyce led all scorers with 26 points for the Loggers, while Eberuare added 14 and Shelton 13.  Puget Sound shot .431 (25-58) from the field but only .143 (2-14) from three-point range, and .793 (23-29) from the line.  Four Loggers had four rebounds apiece - Heyman, Koach, Egberuare, and Shelton - and Heyman passed out three assists.   

NOTES: George Fox is off until next Friday when the Bruins host Whitman College on homecoming weekend at 8:00 p.m. ... Puget Sound hosts Linfield College Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ... Both men's games will be preceded by NWC women's games at 6:00 p.m.