11/21 - NORTHWEST 89, GEORGE FOX 88: Eagles' Frantic Finish Fouls Bruins' Bid for Win in Opener
NEWBERG, Ore. - Down by 16 points with 10 minutes to play, the Northwest College Eagles unleashed a scoring flurry of 42 points in the final quarter of the game and rallied for a stunning 89-88 win over the George Fox University Bruins in the Bruins' home opener Friday night here in Miller Gym at the Wheeler Sports Center.
The Bruins scored 25 points of their own in the final 10 minutes, but too many missed free throws and a barrage of 3-pointers by the Eagles (8 in the second half, 5 in the final 3 minutes) proved costly to the home team.
After falling behind 4-0 early in the game, the Bruins' Mark Gayman caught fire, scoring his team's first 7 points to give GFU a 7-6 lead, and the Bruins never trailed again until the final seconds of the contest. Gayman finished with 13 first-half points as the Bruins built a 39-30 halftime lead.
A jumper by Bryan Wadlow gave the Bruins their biggest lead of the night at 63-47 with 10:08 left, but the Eagles got hot after that, hitting 14 of their final 21 shots. Gayman nailed a 3-pointer and Ben Melvin sank two free throws for an 85-76 Bruin lead with 51 seconds left, but Andrew Gard drove for two quick layups sandwiched around a Bruin turnover to cut it to 85-80 with 44 seconds left. Gayman hit a free throw to make it 86-80, but Aaron Sawyer hit a trey to slice the margin in half at 86-83 with 23 seconds to go.
A Wadlow fast break layup boosted the Bruins back up 88-83 with 19 seconds left, then Joel Wildeboer hit another three to make it 88-86 with 12 seconds left. The Eagles then fouled Aaron Schmick, but the normally-reliable lefthander missed both freebies, and Patrick Hillis nailed another triple with 2.5 seconds left for the 89-88 Northwest lead. The Bruins threw the ball the length of the court but could not get off a final desperation shot.
Gayman led all scorers with 24 points for the Bruins, followed by Scott Szalay with 19, Schmick with 15, and Wadlow with 13. Szalay had 8 rebounds, and Melvin passed out 9 assists. The Bruins shot well from the field at .579 (33-57), but a poor night at the line (.545, 18-33) proved deadly.
Sawyer scored 20 to lead the Eagles, with Grant Enloe adding 19, Gard 12, and Tyson Dodd 10. Sawyer and Dodd each had double-doubles by grabbing 12 and 10 rebounds respectively, leading Northwest to a 47-35 edge on the boards. Gard had 7 assists. The Eagles shot only .378 (31-82) from the field but sparkled at the line, hitting .850 (17-20), and hit 10 3-pointers.
George Fox (0-1) hosts Warner Pacific College Tueday at 7:30 p.m., while Northwest (3-3) visits Pacific University Saturday at 7:30 p.m.