Men's Basketball Release
12/9 - GEORGE FOX 79, CLAREMONT 69: Bruins' Outside Sniping Tags Stags for 5th Straight Win
NEWBERG, Ore. - Closing out an undefeated five-game home stand, the George Fox University Bruins sizzled from three-point range and the foul line in pinning a 79-69 loss on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Stags in a non-conference men's basketball game Friday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.
It was the Stags who raced ahead early behind the magic touch of John Parsons, who connected on four of his first five attempts, including a three-pointer, to give Claremont a 12-3 lead seven minutes into the game. Three-pointers by Aaron Schmick, ex-Stag Phil Heu-Weller, and Ben Melvin rallied the Bruins back to a 16-16 tie before another three by Parsons put Claremont in front again. Heu-Weller hit another trey with 6:25 left in the period for a 22-21 George Fox lead, and the Bruins stretched that to 35-28 at the half.
The Bruins never trailed again, although the Stags did tie it up one more time at 45-45 on a layup by Dan Winterbottom with 11:51 to go. A pair of Schmick free throws broke the deadlock at 11:33, but the Stags stayed close as Parson tossed in 18 of his game-high 30 points in the final 20 minutes. The game was still very much in doubt when Parson nailed a three with 1:09 to play, narrowing the score to 69-65. Brent Satern's driving layup with 33 seconds remaining gave the Bruins a little breathing room at 71-65, and they sank 8-8 on throws in the final 16 seconds to secure the win.
Schmick topped the Bruins with 20 points, including 9-10 from the line, Heu-Weller added 19 that included 5-7 from three-point range, and Melvin had 12 on a perfect shooting night (4-4 from the field, including a pair of threes, and 2-2 from the line). While shooting .579 (22-41) from the field for the game, the Bruins hit .650 (13-20) from outside the arc and .846 (22-26) from the charity stripe. Scott Szalay had 5 rebounds and Schmick had 5 assists to lead the Bruins in those categories.
Parsons sank 12-19, including 4 threes, on the way to his 30 points, Craig Borengasser chipped in with 13, and Emanuel Maceira added 10. Miles Taylor's 7 rebounds paced the Stags to a 29-22 edge on the boards. Taylor, Maceira, and Winterbottom all had 3 assists. CMS shot well at .500 (27-54), but struggled from outside (4-18 for .222) and hit only .611 (11-18) from the line.
George Fox is now 6-1 while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps slips to 4-3. The Bruins are off until Monday, Dec. 19, when they begin a three-game swing through southern California against Whittier College at 7:30 p.m. The Stags play again Saturday at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., game time at 8:00 p.m.