NEWBERG, Ore. - Earning a berth in the Northwest Conference men's basketball tournament for the first time since the 1997-98 season, the George Fox University Bruins broke a third-place tie with Lewis & Clark College by edging the Pioneers 91-90 in overtime Friday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

With the victory, George Fox (12-12, NWC 9-6) secured the No. 3 spot in the tournament and will go to Linfield College on Feb. 25 to play the No. 2 Wildcats, who defeated Whitman College 74-70.  George Fox could still tie for second, but the Wildcats beat the Bruins twice and would have the tiebreaker.  Lewis & Clark (9-13, NWC 8-7) will have the No. 4 spot because Pacific Lutheran University was eliminated from a chance to tie for fourth by losing to Willamette University 80-58.  The Bruins and Pioneers could still tie for third, but the tiebreaker would go to George Fox because of a sweep in the head-to-head series.

The first half of Friday's thriller see-sawed with six ties and nine lead changes in the first 15 minutes.  The Pioneers scored the game's first six points on a jumper by Kyle Meeuwsen and two layups by Josh Kollasch, only to have the Bruins answer with six of their own on buckets by Rich Smith, Stephen Wiseley, and Alex Stockner.  Six was the biggest lead either team had until the Bruins pulled away late in the half.

Evan Atwater broke a 27-27 tie with a three-pointer at the 4:22 mark, sparking a 9-0 Bruin run that included a jumper and a free throw by Smith and a conventional three-point play by Stockner.  The Bruins led 39-32 at the half by hitting .556 (15-27) from the floor, led by Smith's 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting.  Meeuwsen led the Pios with 11 in the period.

George Fox gradually lengthened its lead early in the second half and built a 12-point margin of 55-43 on a layup by Atwater with 13:49 left in the game.  The Pios battled back with a 15-2 run, fueled by five points each by Kollasch and Kelly Edwards, to take a 58-57 lead with 9:17 remaining, and the race was on again.

The Bruins regained the lead on a layup by Dan Lingenfelder and went on a 12-4 run to take a 69-62 lead on Smith's layup with 5:48 left.  James Hollins answered for the Pios with a basket and four free throws over the next two minutes to knot it again 69-69.   The Bruins built a four-point lead of 74-70 on a trey by Wiseley with 2:21 showing, but the Pios stayed close with a three by Kollasch.  After Atwater and Meeuwsen traded baskets, Jack Martin gave the Bruins a 78-75 lead with 15 seconds left on a pair of free throws, but Edwards drained a three from the top with five ticks remaining to send it into overtime.

The Bruins scored the first four points of the extra period on free throws by Wiseley and Stockner, but the Pios rallied and finally tied it 84-84 on a layup by Kollasch with 1:51 to go.  The Pios used consecutive three-point plays by Kollasch and P.J. Taylor to offset baskets by Wiseley and Martin for a 90-88 lead with 21 seconds left, but Stockner made a three-point play of his own with nine seconds left for a 91-90 lead.  The game still hung in the balance, however, as Edwards drove the lane for a short jumper, got his own miss and put it back up, but that one was short as time expired.

Stockner led all scorers with 26 points for the Bruins, Smith notched his sixth double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Wiseley added 14 points.  Martin handed out six assists.  The Bruins out-shot the Pios .574 (35-61) to .449 (31-69) and out-boarded them 37-31.

Kollasch paced the Pios with 24 points, Edwards added 21, Meeuwsen had 20, and Hollins tallied 12 along with a team-high nine rebounds.  Kollasch collected five assists as the Pios recorded only seven assists in the game despite 31 field goals, of which 14 were driving or one-on-one layups.

NOTES: Atwater scored seven points, giving him 1,051 for his career and moving him past Dave Alteneder (1,049, 1965-69) into 28th on the all-time GFU scoring list ... It was Seniors Night as Atwater, Stockner, Martin, Lingenfelder, Travis Toedtemeier, Grant Vahalla, and David Griffiths played their last home game ... George Fox visits Pacific Lutheran Saturday in the regular season finale while Lewis & Clark goes to the University of Puget Sound, both tipping off at 8:00 p.m. ... NWC women's games will precede each men's game at 6:00 p.m. ...