Overall 4-3: Home 1-1, Road 1-1, Neutral 2-1 / NWC 0-0: Home 0-0, Road 0-0
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HIGHLIGHTS:
* Recent Games: Bruins Overpower Concordia for First Home Win
* Coming Up: Three Game Trip to Eastern Washington after Holidays
* Szalay Honorable Mention for NWC "Player of the Week"
* Career Lists: Gayman Moves Up to 23rd in All-Time Scoring
* NWC Stats: Bruins Winning with Sharp Shooting and Good Defense
RECENT GAMES: 1-0 (Click score for link to stories and box scores):
Dec. 10 - at George Fox 775, Concordia-Portland 59
COMING UP:
* Wed., Jan. 5, 6:00 p.m. - at Walla Walla College, Walla Walla, Wash.
First game for Bruins in 26 days ... The Walla Walla Wolves are members of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) ... First meeting between the two teams ... Walla Walla is 3-8 on the season and has lost its last five games, including a 79-72 loss to Whitworth in its last game ... The Wolves play Concordia at home on Jan. 4 before taking on the Bruins ... Current stats were unavailable on Walla Walla at release time ...
* Fri., Jan. 7, 8:00 p.m. - at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash. (NWC)
Northwest Conference opener ... The Missionaries, who were picked to finish 9th in the NWC pre-season coaches' poll, are off to 2-5 start ... Series record: The Bruins lead 16-13 (10-3 home, 6-10 road) ... The teams split last year, George Fox winning 78-71 in Newberg on Jan. 31 and Whitman winning 72-69 in Walla Walla on Feb. 28 ... Whitman averages 78.6 ppg on offense, 84.6 ppg on defense, and leads the NWC in rebounding (44.4) and rebound margin (+3.4) ... The Misasionaries have four double-figure scorers: Matt Kelly (17.9, 3rd in the NWC), Kyle Born (12.4, 17th), Ian Warner (11.4, 21st), and Erik Kofler (11.4, 12th) ... Kofler (9.9) and Born (9.6) are 1-2 in the league in rebounding ...
* Sat., Jan. 8, 8:00 p.m. - at Whitworth College, Spokane, Wash. (NWC)
The Pirates, who were picked to finish 2nd in the NWC pre-season coaches' poll, are off to a 4-3 start ... Series record: The Bruins trail 7-16 (4-7 home, 3-9 road) ... The Pirates have won the last six meetings, including an 88-84 overtime win in Newberg on Jan. 30 and an 82-66 win in Spokane on Feb. 27 last year ... Whitworth is last in the NWC in scoring (65.5) but first in defense (65.5) ... The Pirates are the best free-throw shooting team in the NWC (.723) ... The Pirates have two double-figure scorers: Jon Young (15.2, 7th in the NWC) and Bryan Williams (12.2, 18th) ... Young leads the league in 3-pointers (4.17) ...
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE:
After their next-to-last non-conference game at Walla Walla on Jan. 5, the Bruins open conference play on Jan. 7 at Whitman. The Bruins, who were picked to finish 6th, are tied with Whitworth for the 2nd-best record in pre-conference play at 4-3. Heavy pre-season favorite and defending conference champion Puget Sound is off to a 6-0 start and ranked 3rd in the latest D3hoops.com national poll. For the latest NWC standings, go to www.nwcsports.com.
COACH MARK SUNDQUIST
Mark Sundquist (Seattle Pacific '89) is 31-75 (.292) to date in his 5th season as a college head coach, all at George Fox. He coached the boys' programs at Woodburn (Ore.) High for two years and at Newberg (Ore.) High for one year before joining the Bruins. Click here for the complete bio on Coach Sundquist.
Sundquist vs. upcoming opponents:
Walla Walla - 0-0
Whitman - 2-6 (2-2 home, 0-4 road)
Whitworth - 2-6 (1-3 home, 1-3 road)
BRUIN BITS:
* Szalay Honorable Mention for NWC "Player of the Week"
Scott Szalay broke out of an early-season slump to spark the Bruins to a 75-59 win over Concordia-Portland on Dec. 10 in their only game of the week, earning Honorable Mention for Northwest Conference "Player of the Week" for Dec. 6-12. He scored 15 points, 14 of them in the first half when he hit 5-7 from the field and 4-4 from the line with 7 rebounds, leading the Bruins to a 20-point halftime lead. He finished with a 5-8 game from the field and 5-8 from the line, with 8 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 1 steal. Szalay was an Honorable Mention All-NWC player last year.
* 2004-05 Honors:
Mark Gayman - Surf's Up Invitational All-Tournament Team
Aaron Schmick - RBC Mortgage/Windermere Real Estate Holiday Tournament All-Tournament Team
* Double-Doubles:
Mark Gayman: Career 16, season 1 - 32 pts/10 reb vs. California-Santa Cruz, 11/27 at Honolulu, Hawaii
* Career Lists: Gayman Climbs to 23rd in All-Time Scoring
Mark Gayman scored 8 points in the Bruins' win over Concordia-Portland on Dec. 10, boosting his career total to 1,113. One of 31 players to have reached the 1,000-point mark as a Bruin, he moved past Phil Barnhart (1,112, 1977-81) and Sammy Ibarra (1,112, 1970-73) into 21st on GFU career list. Ahead are Eric Swanson (1,132, 1986-88), Ron Willcuts (1,145, 1958-61), and Hille Van Der Kooy (1,170, 1979-81) ...
Aaron Schmick has hit 19-23 free throws this season, boosting his career free throw pct. to .810 (162-200), good for 10th on the all-time free throw pct. list ...
Chris Parker has hit 15-17 on free throws this season, boosting his career free throw pct. to .831 (59-71), good for 5th on the all-time free throw pct. list ...
* NWC Stats: Bruins Winning with Sharp Shooting and Good Defense
In the latest Northwest Conference stats (Dec. 11), George Fox is 1st in rebounding defense (33.03), 2nd in scoring defense (68.7), scoring margin (+1.6), free throw pct. (.716), field goal pct. defense (.440), assist/turnover ratio (0.99), 3rd in field goal pct. (.481), 3-pt pct. (.354), turnover margin (+0.57), 4th in blocked shots (2.71), 5th in rebound margin (-0.7), assists (14.71), steals (7.29), 7th in scoring (70.3), 9th in 3-pt field goals (5.00) ...
Aaron Schmick is 4th in scoring (17.1), 3-pt pct. (.484), 5th in field goal pct. (.597), 8th in 3-pt field goals (2.14, tie), free throw pct. (.826), 12th in assists (2.71, tie), steals (1.43), 14th in rebounding (5.0, tie) ...
Mark Gayman is 5th in rebounding (7.3), 9th in scoring (15.1), assist/turnover ratio (1.17, tie) ...
Scott Szalay is 2nd in blocked shots (1.86), 10th in rebounding (5.7) ...
Ben Melvin is 11th in field goal pct. (.511) ...
Brent Satern is 8th in assists (3.00, tie), 9th in assist/turnover ratio (1.17, tie) ...
Chris Parker is 4th in field goal pct. (.600), 5th in free throw pct. (.882) ...
Philip Heu-Weller is 3rd in free throw pct. (.917), 12th in 3-pt pct. (.400) ...
* The Wirta Streaks:
Mike "Biggs" Wirta, George Fox's statistical guru, raised his string of consecutive Bruin men's basketball games attended, home and away, to 545 with the Dec. 10 contest vs. Concordia, last missing one on Nov. 25, 1985, at Puget Sound. His streak of men's basketball home games worked is 407, last missing a home game on Dec. 15, 1972, vs. Willamette, when he was in advanced training with the Army at Ft. Jackson in Columbia, S.C. Now in his 34th season of keeping Bruin statistics, Biggs has seen 958 George Fox men's basketball games in his lifetime.