NEWBERG, Ore. -- After weeks of coming painstakingly close to their first win since November, the George Fox men's basketball team broke through, defeating the Pacific Boxers by four points in an overtime thriller, 111-107.

How It Happened
The Bruins had a strong start to the first half of the game as Sydney Natche scored an acrobatic tip-in in the paint, Jake Centner made a clean three-pointer, Dre Lawrence charged the basket with a layup to score the first seven points of the game. Donovan Cooks made a three-pointer, getting Fox eight points ahead at 12-8.

Pacific started to gain on the Bruins, but Noah Marte entered the game and made an instant impact, scoring 11 points in his first five minutes off the bench to help the Bruins get to an eight-point advantage—30-22. Cooks made five consecutive free-throws, helping them get nine points ahead at 37-28. Pacific managed to whittle away at the lead, going on a 9-1 run, but but Centner tied it once again with a free-throw at 42-42. 

The Boxers took the lead back with a three-pointer, but Cooks scored another fastbreak shot in the paint, placing GFU one point ahead, 46-45. It looked like the Bruins would go into halftime with a 48-47 lead in the closing seconds, but Pacific's Anthony Gehring grabbed the Boxer's 13th offensive rebound of the half and made the putback at the buzzer, sending the Bruins into halftime down, 49-48.

Centner started the second half with a nice layup, claiming the lead once again 50-49, and it was back-and-forth practically the whole period. Fox's largest lead of the first half of the second period was after Centner made two layups in a row, pushing a five-point lead at 72-67. With ten minutes left on the clock, Anthony Williams scored in the paint, keeping Pacific behind at 76-72. 

With four minutes remaining in regulation, Fox put together one of their best runs of the season. Marte nailed back-to-back triples before Cervantes found Natche cutting to the hoop for the slam to get the Bruin crowd on their feet. With three minutes left, the Bruins led by eight, 96-88. Suddenly, though, the Boxers had a strong run, scoring the next 14 points to take a 100-96 lead with 20 seconds left. Rather than drop another heartbreaker, GFU showed fight. Donovan Cooks made two free throws, and the Boxers missed theirs. Down by just two, Cooks drove to the hoop and found the bottom of the net to tie the game with six seconds left. After a missed shot by Pacific, the game headed into overtime knotted at 100.

Anyone watching the game could tell how badly the Bruins wanted it. And after Natche made a corner triple on the first possession of OT, the Bruins never trailed again. Even after the Boxers tied the game at 105, Natche scored the final of his seven overtime points to take the lead back. The Bruins defense bent, but never broke, as a Centner layup in the final seconds clinched the big-time win for Fox, 11-107.

Top Performances
Donovan Cooks and Sydney Natche led the team with 29 points each, Cooks shooting 9-10 from the free throw line while Natche had seven rebounds. Jake Centner had a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds, while Noah Marte scored 21 thanks to five triples. In total, those four Bruins combined for 98 of Fox's 111 points

Cory Schramm may not have scored, but he stuffed the stat sheet with 14 rebounds — the most for a Bruin since Dylan Hamlett in 2018. The 6'3" Dre Lawrence, meanwhile, had 10 rebounds. Both numbers were career highs for the players. 

What It Means
The Bruins rise to 2-14 (1-6 NWC), while the Boxers fall to 6-10 (2-5 NWC). 

What Happens Next 
The Bruins will travel to McMinnville to play against the rival Linfield Wildcats on Friday, January 23. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 pm.