GEORGE FOX MEN'S BASKETBALL
(Overall 2-2: Home 0-1, Road 0-0, Neutral 2-1 / NWC 0-0: Home 0-0, Road 0-0)
HIGHLIGHTS:
* Bruins Capture 5th in Lee Fulmer Tournament in California
* Gayman Earns All-Tourney, NWC Player of the Week HM Honors
* Bruins Set Free Throw Accuracy Mark vs. Dominican
* Where Bruins Rank in NWC Stats
* Upcoming Previews: at Puget Sound Christian, Northwest Christian
THIS WEEK (Previews below):
Tue., Dec. 10, 7:30 pm - at Puget Sound Christian College (4-7), Mountlake Terrace, Wash.
Fri., Dec. 13, 7:30 pm - at Northwest Christian College (3-6), Eugene, Ore.
LAST WEEK (2-1):
* at Lee Fulmer Memorial Tournament, Redlands, Calif., Dec. 5-7 *
Dec. 5 - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 90, George Fox 57
Dec. 6 - George Fox 78, Chapman 75 (ot)
Dec. 7 - George Fox 82, Dominican IL 73
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE: George Fox (2-2) was picked to finish 9th in the NWC this season, the same spot they finished in last year. Conference play this season does not begin until January. For the latest NWC standings and stats, go to www.nwcsports.com.
COACH MARK SUNDQUIST (Seattle Pacific '89) is 15-38 (.283) in his 3rd season as a college head coach, all at George Fox. Against this week's opponents, he is 0-0 vs. Puget Sound Christian and 1-1 vs. Northwest Christian (1-0 in Newberg, 0-1 in Eugene).
BRUIN BITS:
* Gayman Earns All-Tourney, NWC Player of the Week Honorable Mention:
Mark Gayman (W, So., Hillsboro, Ore.) led the Bruins to a 2-1 record and 5th place at the Lee Fulmer Memorial Tournament in Redlands, Calif., Dec. 5-7, earning All-Tournament honors and Honorable Mention for Northwest Conference "Player of the Week" for Dec. 2-8. In a 90-57 loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, he led the Bruins with 16 points on 7-12 from the field and 2-2 from the line, with 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. In a 78-85 overtime win over Chapman, he again led the Bruins with 16 points, hitting 5-10 from the field and 6-8 from the line, with 3 rebounds and 1 steal. In an 82-73 win over Dominican IL, he led the team with 21 points on 9-19 shooting (1-2 from 3-pt range) and 2-2 from the line, with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 5 steals. In 3 games, he totaled 53 points (17.7 ppg) on 21-41 from the field (.512), including 1-2 on 3's (.500), and 10-12 from the line (.833), with 13 rebounds (4.3 rpg), 3 assists, 3 blocks, and 8 steals.
NWC "Player of the Week" honors went to Marques Johnson of Willamette, who led the Bearcats to a pair of wins in the John Lewis Classic with 47 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
* Bruins Sink Free Throw Record in Win over Dominican
When the Bruins canned 18-19 free throws in their 82-73 win over Dominican University of Illinois in the Lee Fulmer Tournament in Redlands, Calif., on Dec. 7, they set a new record for free throw accuracy with at least one miss. The percentage of .947 eclipsed a .929 (13-14) mark against Willamette on Jan. 16, 1999. The most free throws the Bruins have ever made in a game with no misses was an 11-11 performance at Western Baptist on Dec. 17, 1994.
* First Winning Streak for Bruins in Two Seasons:
With a 78-75 overtime win over Chapman and an 82-73 win over Dominican IL Dec. 6-7 in the Lee Fulmer Tournament in Redlands, Calif., the George Fox Bruins put together back-to-back wins for the first time in two seasons. Not since defeating Whitworth 103-91 and Whitman 79-72 at home on Jan. 26-27, 2001, had the Bruins posted consecutive victories. They will try to make it three in a row Tuesday, Dec. 10, at Puget Sound Christian. The last 3-game winning streak for the Bruins was Dec. 30, 1998-Jan. 8, 1999, when the Bruins beat La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer, and Whitman, all on the road.
* Schmick Stands Out in Sub Stints:
The Bruins discovered some "instant offense" off the bench when rookie Aaron Schmick (Fr., W, Hillsboro, Ore.) turned into two sparkling relief efforts in the Lee Fulmer Tournament Dec. 5-7 in Redlands, Calif. In a 78-75 overtime over Chapman on Friday, he had a perfect shooting night, going 5-5 from the field (1-1 on 3's) and 2-2 from the line for 13 points. He followed that up with a career-high 17 points in an 82-73 win over Dominican IL on Saturday, hit 5-11 from the floor (1-2 on 3's) and 6-6 from the line. He also collared a career-high 7 rebounds.
* Ben Becomes Third Melvin Brother to Play for Bruins:
Ben Melvin (Fr., W, Pleasant Hill, Ore.) became the third member of the Melvin family to play for the George Fox Bruins when he played 8 minutes in the Bruins' 90-57 loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Dec. 5 in the Lee Fulmer Tournament in Redlands, Calif. Melvin went scoreless with one assist in that game, but notched his first two points the next day in a 78-75 overtime win against Chapman, hitting one field goal while grabbing 3 rebounds. Ben has a ways to go to catch brother Travis Melvin, who is 13th on the Bruins' all-time scoring list with 1,268 points from 1998-2002. Ryan Melvin also played one season for the Bruins, in 2000-01.
* Where Bruins Rank in NWC Stats (thru Dec. 8):
Scoring Offense - 5th (74.0)
Scoring Defense - 9th (81.2)
Scoring Margin - 8th (-7.2)
Field Goal Pct. - 6th (.423)
3-Pt FG Made - 6th (5.25, T)
3-Pt FG Pct. - 7th (.323)
Free Throw Pct. - 2nd (.737)
FG Pct. Defense - 7th (.463)
3-Pt FG Defense - 9th (.453)
Rebound Offense - 7th (31.5)
Rebound Defense - 9th (45.5)
Rebound Margin - 9th (-14.0)
Assists - 3rd (17.25)
Turnover Margin - 1st (+3.25)
Assist/TO Ratio - 2nd (1.11)
Steals - 5th (8.50)
Blocks - 3rd (3.25)
Mark Gayman - 5th in scoring (17.2), 15th in FG% (.475), 6th in FT% (.833, T), 4th in steals (2.00, T), 8th in blocks (0.75)
Nate Tyler - 7th in scoring (16.2), 17th in rebounds (5.2), 8th in FG% (.543), 10th in FT% (.800), 13th in assists (3.00, T), 3rd in blocks (1.75), 14th in A/TO ratio (0.92)
Bryan Wadlow - 29th in scoring (9.0), 4th in 3-pt FG% (.571),
Aaron Schmick - 30th in scoring (8.5, T), 4th in FT% (.857),
Trevor Person - 3rd in assists (4.50, T), 6th in steals (1.75, T), 2nd in A/TO ratio (2.25)
* The Wirta Streaks:
Mike "Biggs" Wirta, George Fox's statistical guru, is now in his 32nd season of keeping Bruin statistics. After three games in the Lee Fulmer Tournament in Redlands, Calif., he has been courtside for 475 straight Bruin men's basketball games, home and away, and has also worked 385 straight home games. The last home game he missed was in 1972. Altogether, he has seen 905 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.
THIS WEEK:
Tue., Dec. 10, 7:30 pm - at Puget Sound Christian College (4-7), Mountlake Terrace, Wash.
Non-conference game ... The Anchormen of Puget Sound Christian, located in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., a suburb north of Seattle, are members of the National Christian College Athletic Association ... This is the 1st meeting between the Bruins and Snchormen ... PSCC is off to a 4-7 start ... One of the Anchormen's losses was 101-79 to Multnomah Bible, a team the Bruins will play later in the season ...
Fri., Dec. 13, 7:30 pm - at Northwest Christian College (3-6), Eugene, Ore.
Non-conference game ... The Eagles of Northwest Christian in Eugene, Ore., are members of the National Christian College Athletic Association ... George Fox leads the all-time series with the Eagles 13-4 (9-0 in Newberg, 3-4 in Eugene) ... The teams split last year, the Bruins winning 81-72 in Newberg on Jan. 15 and the Eagles prevailing 89-85 in Eugene on Feb. 5 ... Northwest Christian is off to a 3-6 start this year ... Among common opponents this season, the Eagles have a 75-65 loss to Warner Pacific, an 88-87 win over Concordia-Portland, and a 67-56 win at Pacific ... The Bruins will play Warner Pacific and Pacific later this season, and opened the season with an 87-79 loss to Concordia ... The Eagles average 81 ppg, led by Pete Moore (14.7), Paul Worchester (13.7), and Rhett Green (13.3) in the early going.