SALEM, Ore. - Shooting a blistering 63 percent in the second half, the George Fox University Bruins rallied from 11 points down for an 89-81 win over the Willamette University Bearcats and moved into a tie for second in the Northwest Conference men's basketball race Friday night here at the Cone Fieldhouse.

With the win, George Fox evened its overall record at 11-11 and climbed to 8-5 in the conference, tying the Linfield College Wildcats, who lost 76-59 at Pacific University, for the No. 2 spot in the league.  The Bruins and Wildcats will square off in a showdown for second Saturday at 6:00 p.m. in McMinnville, Ore.  illamette had its three game winning streak snapped in falling to 7-16 overall and 4-10 in the NWC.

A three-point basket by Stephen Wiseley gave George Fox an early 7-5 lead, but the Bearcats went on a 17-5 tear over a seven-minute span to jump ahead 22-12 with 11:35 left.  Cameron Mitchell scored eight of the Willamette points in that span and 10 of their first 22.  The Bruins battled back within six points four times, twice by Wiseley on a three and a pair of free throws, once by Stockner on a fast-break layup, and once by Rich Smith on a power move, but each time the Bearcats responded with scores of their own to stay ahead.

After making eight of their first 14 shots, the Bearcats cooled off to a .412 percentage on 14-34 from the floor, but still led 40-31 at the break.  The Bruins shot .367 (11-30) in the first 20 minutes.

The start of the second half was a series of short Bruin bursts to get within five or six points, only to have the Bearcats answer with a bucket or two to get the lead back up around double digits.  The Bruins finally closed within four on a trey by Jack Martin with 11:46 remaining, and within three on an Alex Stockner layup at the 9:15 mark.

The Bruins secured their first tie of the second period after a three-pointer by Travis Toedtemeier and a layup by Cole Whitehurst erased a five-point deficit to make it 65-65 with 7:03 to play.  After the teams swapped two baskets apiece, the Bruins took their first lead of 72-69 on a three by Jack Martin with 4:53 left, and upped it to five on a jumper from the free throw line by Smith at 4:18.

Ryan Meehan hit a three from the left corner to cut the Bruin lead to 76-74 with three minutes left, but Martin answered with another three, and Wiseley drove the baseline for a layup with 57 seconds left for an 81-75 Bruin edge.  George Fox then sank eight of nine free throws the rest of the way to secure the win.

The Bruins hit 19-30 field goals in the second half to finish at .500 for the game (30-60), while the Bearcats ended at .400 (28-70).  From a 49-38 deficit with 16 minutes left, the Bruins outscored the Bearcats 51-32.

Wiseley led all scorers with 22 points for the Bruins, Stockner added 19, Smith had his fifth double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Whitehurst scored 11.  Wiseley also handed out five assists.

Mitchell paced the Bearcats with a double-double of 20 point and 25 rebounds, but had to shoot 7-22 from the field for his points.  His rebound total, a career high, tied for the second-highest in Willamette history to 36 by by Ken Ashley in 1962.  Meehan and Marcus Holmes scored 14 each, Robbie Kunke scored 13 with four assists, and Taylor Mounts added 12 points.

NOTES: Evan Atwater scored seven points and now has 1,039 career points, 29th on the all-time GFU scoring list.  Ahead is Dave Altender (1,049,  1965-69) ... The men play first and the women second in conference games this week as the NWC experiments with a reversal of game times for doubleheaders ... The George Fox-Linfield women's game follows the men's game at 8:00 p.m. ... Willamette is off until next Friday, visiting Pacific Lutheran University for an 8:00 p.m. game after the women play at 6:00 p.m.