NEWBERG, Ore. — The George Fox men's basketball team close out the year 2021 W. a narrow victory over the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves on Taylor Court, 69–68.
How It Happened
Both teams took time to get their shooting rhythm back in the early stretch of the game. The Prairie Wolves took a small lead to start but the Bruins stormed back with aggressive trap defense and started making their shots to draw even at 9-9. A 15-4 NWU scoring run made it 24-15, Prairie Wolves, with 9:30 left to play in the half but Fox charged back with a 16-2 run of its own and took a 37-34 lead at halftime.
Both teams made good halftime adjustments to try and take away the other's advantages, with the Bruins negating NWU back cuts and the Prairie Wolves adjusting to the Bruins' full-court press.
Each team was able to be more effective from three in the second half, and after trading scoring runs throughout the final 20 minutes it came down to the last seconds of regulation. NWU hit a deep step-back triple to tie the game at 68-68, and Fox brought the ball up for its last possession and missed its initial shot.
Brendan Ritschard snared the rebound and was fouled on a put-back attempt with 2.9 seconds left. Ritschard hit the first shot to give the Bruins a one-point edge and Fox survived a Hail Mary attempt after he missed the second foul shot following an NWU timeout.
Top Performers
Momo Stokes came off the bench and dropped 17 points to lead the Bruins in scoring. Davon Walker led the team in minutes, steals, rebounds, and assists, and made a key last-minute steal to snuff a late NWU possesion in the closing minutes.
Coach's Thoughts
"I'm super proud of our young men tonight!" coach Maco Hamilton said of the win. "We talked about us being 1-3 in close games this year, and we needed to start making winning plays down the stretch. We did that tonight and I'm excited to see this jump-start us into conference play!"
What It Means
Fox improves to 6-5 on the year in its final non-conference tilt of the season.
Up Next
The Bruins resume conference play by hosting Lewis & Clark on Jan. 4 with tip-off scheduled for 8:00 PM.
