GEORGE FOX MEN'S BASKETBALL
Overall 6-8: Home 2-3, Road 2-4, Neutral 2-1 / NWC 1-5: Home 1-2, Road 0-3
HIGHLIGHTS:
* Bruins Better '02 Wins Total, Snap 25-Game NWC Losing Skid
* Bruins in NWC Stats: Schmick Takes Over Lead in 3-Point FG Pct.
* Upcoming Previews: at Linfield, Willamette
THIS WEEK:
Tue., Jan. 21, 8:00 pm - at Linfield College (9-5, NWC 2-3), McMinnville, Ore.
Fri., Jan. 24, 8:00 pm - at Willamette University (10-3, NWC 4-1), Salem, Ore.
LAST WEEK - 1-2:
Jan. 14 - at Lewis & Clark 105, George Fox 69
Jan. 17 - Puget Sound 91, at George Fox 66
Jan. 18 - at George Fox 72, Pacific Lutheran 69
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE: George Fox (6-8, NWC 1-5) snapped a 25-game conference losing streak and surpassed last year's total for wins with their 6th victory Saturday night in defeating Pacific Lutheran 72-69. 17th-ranked Whitworth has moved into 1st in the NWC. For the latest NWC standings and stats, go to www.nwcsports.com.
COACH MARK SUNDQUIST (Seattle Pacific '89) is 19-44 (.302) through Jan. 20 in his 3rd season as a college head coach, all at George Fox. Against this week's opponents, he is 0-4 vs. Linfield (0-2 in Newberg, 0-2 in Portland), and 1-3 vs. Willamette (1-1 in Newberg, 0-2 in Salem).
BRUIN BITS:
* Bruins Break Conference Losing Streak, Better Last Year's Win Total:
Saturday's win 72-69 over Pacific Lutheran in Newberg enabled the Bruins to snap a 25-game losing streak against Northwest Conference competition. Ironically, the Bruins' last win in league play was also against PLU, on Feb. 3, 2001, a 94-84 win in Newberg. The Bruins had dropped their final 4 of thw 2000-01 season, went 0-16 in NWC play last year, and had been 0-5 this season before ending the skid. The PLU win also gave the Bruins more wins, at 6-8, than all of last season, when they were 5-20.
* Where Bruins Rank in NWC Stats (thru Jan. 19):
Scoring Offense - 4th (76.4)
Scoring Defense - 9th (82.8)
Scoring Margin - 8th (-6.4)
Field Goal Pct. - 6th (.449)
3-Pt FG Made - 6th (6.36)
3-Pt FG Pct. - 5th (.353)
Free Throw Pct. - 6th (.686)
FG Pct. Defense - 8th (.473)
3-Pt FG Defense - 9th (.408)
Rebound Offense - 7th (33.9)
Rebound Defense - 9th (40.5)
Rebound Margin - 9th (-6.6)
Assists - 2nd (16.64)
Turnover Margin - 5th (+0.21)
Assist/TO Ratio - 4th (1.01)
Steals - 2nd (9.07)
Blocks - 3rd (2.71)
Mark Gayman - 3rd in scoring (17.8), 2nd in rebounds (7.1), 10th in FG% (.514), 7th in steals (1.43, T), 8th in blocks (0.57, T)
Nate Tyler - 12th in scoring (13.3), 19th in rebounds (4.4), 14th in FG% (.492), 4th in FT% (.803), 12th in assists (2.71), 2nd in steals (2.14, T), 4th in blocks (0.79)
Bryan Wadlow - 29th in scoring (8.3)
Trevor Person - 4th in assists (4.21), 1st in A/TO ratio (1.84)
Brett Yeager - 20th in rebounds (4.3), 11th in assists (2.79), 13th in blocks (0.43)
Aaron Schmick - 20th in scoring (9.4, T), 3rd in FT% (.820), 1st in 3-pt FG% (.560)
* 2002-03 Bruin Honors:
NWC Player of the Week - Mark Gayman (Dec. 9-15)
* Bruin Records Set This Season:
- Best Free Throw Pct. (with miss) - .947 (18-19) vs. Dominican IL at Redlands, Calif., 12/7/02 (previous record was .929, 13-14, vs. Willamette, 1/16/99)
- Fewest Turnovers, Team, Game - 5 at Whitman, 1/3/03
* The Wirta Streaks:
Mike "Biggs" Wirta, George Fox's statistical guru, is now in his 32nd season of keeping Bruin statistics. He has been courtside for 485 straight Bruin men's basketball games, home and away, and has also worked 389 straight home games. The last home game he missed was in 1972. Altogether, he has seen 915 George Fox men's basketball games. He watched his 900th Bruin men's basketball Friday, Feb. 15, 2002,when George Fox hosted Whitman as a part of Homecoming weekend, and was presented with a special engraved souvenir basketball at halftime by director of athletics Craig Taylor. "Biggs" says that he anticipates seeing his 1,000th George Fox game some time late in the 2005-06 season.
UPCOMING GAMES (Previews):
Tue., Jan. 21, 8:00 pm - at Linfield College (9-5, NWC 2-3), McMinnville, Ore.
Northwest Conference game ... The Wildcats are the Bruins' Yamhill County rivals from McMinnville, Ore. ... George Fox leads the all-time series with Linfield 34-31 (18-13 in Newberg, 16-18 in McMinnville) since 1965 ... The Wildcats have won the last 4 meetings, including 2 wins last year, 115-96 on Jan. 12 in Newberg, and 100-87 on Jan. 25 in McMinnville ... George Fox's last win in the series was 102-96 at Homecoming in Newberg on Feb. 12, 2000 ... At least one team or the other has scored 100 points or more in each of the last 8 games, including both teams twice ... Linfield received 6 points in the latest NCAA Division III national poll conducted by D3hoops.com, placing 38th, and were honorable mention in the West Region rankings ... The Wildcats are 2nd in the NWC in scoring (79.3), 8th in defense (79.6), 6th in scoring margin (-0.3), 4th in FG% (.462), 4th in FT% (.700), 1st in rebounds (40.7), 1st in rebound margin (+5.6), 7th in 3-pt FG (4.79), 8th in assists (13.79), 3rd in steals (8.43), and 1st in blocks (4.50) ... Matt Larson is 11th in the NWC in scoring (13.6), 1st in FT% (.908), 3rd in assists (4.29), 2nd in steals (2.14, T) ... Nick Fusare is 14th in scoring (10.7), 5th in rebounds (6.6), 1st in blocks (2.36) ... Travis Jones is 18th in scoring (9.9) ...
Fri., Jan. 24, 8:00 pm - at Willamette University (10-3, NWC 4-1), Salem, Ore.
Northwest Conference game ... The Bearcats are located in Salem, Ore. ... George Fox trails the all-time series with Willamette 28-33 (16-9 in Newberg, 12-24 in Salem) since 1965 ... The Bearcats have won the last 3 meetings, including 2 wins last year, 89-69 on Dec. 7 in Newberg and 56-44 on Feb. 9 in Salem ... George Fox's last win in the series was 106-104 in double overtime Jan. 16, 2001, in Newberg ... Willamette received 13 points in the latest NCAA Division III national poll conducted by D3hoops.com, tying for 33rd, and were 4th in the West Region rankings ... The Bearcats are 6th in the NWC in scoring (73.3), 1st in defense (63.1), 2nd in scoring margin (+10.2), 1st in FG% (.514, 4th nationally), 8th in FT% (.674), 8th in rebounds (32.5), 4th in rebound margin (+4.3), 9th in 3-pt FG (3.77), 4th in assists (14.15), 8th in steals (7.15), and 8th in blocks (1.69) ... Marques Johnson is 4th in the NWC in scoring (16.8), 7th in rebounds (6.4), 1st in FG% (.596), 5th in blocks (0.77) ... Ryan Hepp is 6th in scoring (15.4), 5th in FG% (.556), 5th in FT% (.789), 1st in assists (4.69), 6th in steals (1.46), 2nd in assists/TO ratio (1.74) ... Miles Sandgathe is 8th in scoring (14.8), 6th in FG% (.555), 2nd in 3-pt FG% (.538), 2nd in FT% (.860) ... B.J. Dobrkovsky is 15th in rebounds (4.8) ...