1/30 - WHITWORTH 88, GEORGE FOX 84 (OT): Bruins Fall to Pirates in Second Straight NWC OT Game
NEWBERG, Ore. - For the second straight time in Northwest Conference play, the George Fox University Bruins pushed one of the league's top teams to the very edge but could not complete the upset in overtime, falling 88-84 to the visiting Whitworth College Pirates in men's basketball Friday night here at Miller Gym in the Wheeler Sports Center.
Down 8-6 five minutes into the game, Bryan Wadlow hit back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 20-5 George Fox run that gave the Bruins a 13-point lead midway through the first half. The Bruins were still up 13 at 34-21 after Mark Gayman hit a pair of free throws with six minutes left, but the Pirates out-scored the home team 18-11 to cut the margin to 45-39 at the break.
Gayman's 3-point play with 16 minutes to go in the game put the Bruins up by 9 at 52-43 before the Pirates mounted a comeback. A 14-4 run, capped by two free throws by Jon Young, enabled Whitworth to take a 57-56 lead with 9:43 to play, and from that point until the end of regulation, there were five ties and five lead changes, with neither team leading by more than three. After Bryan Depew hit a free throw with 32 seconds left to knot it at 72-72, the Bruins had two shots to win it, but Aaron Schmick's 3-pointer hit the rim and Chris Parker's shot from 12 feet away after collaring the rebound was short.
With three of their starters fouling out - Scott Szalay and Wadlow in regulation, Schmick midway through the overtime - the Bruins fell behind 83-75 with 57 seconds left in the extra period, but fought back within two points twice as Ben Melvin scored 7 points in the last minute. However, Depew and Scott Bierlink hit two free throws each with 13 and 4 seconds left to protect the Whitworth win.
Melvin finished with a career-high 19 points and added 7 assists, and he was joined in the George Fox scoring column by Gayman with 16, Schmick with 14, and Wadlow with 13. A career-high 9 rebounds by Parker and 8 each by Gayman and Brett Yeager led the Bruins to a 37-33 edge on the boards. The Bruins suffered from 17 turnovers, however, to only 8 for the Pirates.
Depew and Bierlink each posted double-doubles for Whitworth, Depew with 28 points and 11 rebounds and Bierlink with 23 points and 12 boards. Depew led the Pirates with 3 assists as the visitors took a large number of one-on-one shots.
George Fox, which lost to league-leading Willamette University on Jan. 20 in overtime before snapping an 8-game losing streak Tuesday with a non-conference win over Multnomah Bible College, slid to 4-12 overall and 0-7 in the conference with yet another tough-luck loss. The Bruins have three overtime losses and three other setbacks by a total of 10 points this year. Whitworth, the pre-season NWC favorite, kept its hopes of repeating as conference champion alive by improving to 12-5 overall and 5-3 in the league.
The Bruins return to Northwest Conference action Saturday (Jan. 31), hosting Whitman College in the school's Homecoming game. The Pirates are off until next Friday (Feb. 6) when they visit Lewis & Clark College. Both games are at 8:00 p.m., following women's games at 6:00 p.m.