NEWBERG, Ore. – For the second time in three games, George Fox University got balanced scoring with five players in double figures, but an uneven margin at the free throw line enabled the visiting Portland Bible College Wildcats to hold off the Bruins 79-73 in a non-conference men's basketball game Monday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

Shooting from the field was relatively even as the Bruins hit 30-67 (44.8) to 28-63 (.444) for the Wildcats.  Portland Bible made 7-21 (.333) three-pointers to 6-29 (.207) for George Fox, and the Bruins held a 42-34 advantage on the boards, even grabbing 15 offensive rebounds.  At the line, though, the 'Cats sank 16-21 (.762) to only 7-10 (.700) for the Bruins, and therein lay the difference.

George Fox jumped out to a 6-0 lead on two buckets by Seth Brent and one by A.J. Grant, and were again up by six at 14-8 following a steal and layup by Brent five minutes into the contest.  An 8-0 response enabled the Wildcats to take their first lead, a swipe and layin and three free throws by Shabaz King-Lewis and a three by Doug Noteboom, a University of South Dakota transfer, putting the visitors in front 16-14 with 12:40 left in the half. 

The rest of the period saw four more lead changes and six ties.  A three by Grant pushed the Bruins out to a five-point bulge of 34-29 with 4:29 left, but the Wildcats erupted for a 12-4 spurt to close the half and took a 41-38 lead into the break. 

Another downtowner from Grant to open the second half knotted it at 41-41.  Two free throws by Vadim Balabanov and a trey by Breen Weeks made it 46-41 'Cats, but the Bruins answered with layups by Anthony Sanchez and Jon Adrian to cut the deficit to 46-45 with 17 minutes remaining.  Over the next nine minutes, neither team led by more than three points, and the game was deadlocked for the last time at 63-63 with 8:17 to go after a jumper by the Bruins' Spencer Bolte.

Tim Mahan, who scored 26 points in the teams' first-ever meeting last year, canned a three at 7:57 to snap the tie and give the Wildcats the lead for good.  The Bruins climbed within one at 68-67 on a putback by Josh Garlington with 5:50 left, but a trey and a layup by Juston Coleman around a basket by King-Lewis gave Portland Bible its largest lead at 75-67 with 4:17 left.  The Bruins were unable to catch up as they missed eight of their final 10 shots from the field, threes by Sanchez and Sean Atkins being their only scores.

Atkins, as he has in every game this far, led the Bruins with 16 points, while Brent added 14 on 7-9 field goals (the two the 6-7 post missed were threes), Grant and Bolte scored 13 each, and Sanchez had 10.  Sanchez led all rebounders with nine boards, just missing his second career double-double.  Adrian passed out four assists and had a pair of blocked shots.

King-Lewis led all scorers with 20 points for the Wildcats and Coleman chipped in with 13.  Balabanov was Portland Bible's top rebounder with seven boards, while Isiah Robinson had four assists and King-Lewis made three steals.

NEXT: George Fox (1-2) plays in the Surf's Up Classic at Kalani High School in Honolulu, Hawai'i, this weekend, taking on California Lutheran University Friday at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time (1:00 p.m. in Hawai'i) and Whittier College Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Pacific (3:00 p.m. in Hawai'i). ... Portland Bible (10-2) hosts Hope International University next Monday at 5:45 p.m.