Press Release
11/16 - McMURRY 77, GEORGE FOX 63: Bruins Fall to McMurry in Season Opener
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Evan Atwater came off the bench to pour in 18 points, but it was not enough to rescue the George Fox University Bruins from a 77-63 men's basketball defeat at the hands of McMurry University in the opening game of the Colorado College Tipoff Tournament here Friday evening.
George Fox used a 12-0 run, capped by an Atwater three-pointer, to take a 13-3 lead six minutes into the game, and the Bruins nursed that lead throughout most of the first half. Down 23-19 with 2:50 left in the period, McMurry out-scored the Bruins 8-0 the rest of the way, taking the lead for good as Chris Beck scored the final four points of the half to break a 23-23 tie.
The Bruins cut the deficit to two at 30-28 two minutes into the second half on a trey by Dan Lingenfelder, but McMurry took off on a 9-0 run to take control. Beck's jumper at 13:22 made it 41-30, and McMurry led by double digits the rest of the way. The largest gap came with 8:53 left when DeWayne Hall sank a layup for a 19-point 56-37 advantage for the team from Abilene, Texas.
In addition to Atwater's 18, which included four three-pointers, Brent Satern had 11 points for the Bruins and also passed out 5 assists. Mark Metzler led the Bruins on the boards with 8. George Fox shot .317 (20-63) from the field, and struggled particularly from three-point range with a .219 mark (7-32).
Hall led all scorers with 24 points, while Alex Robles added 19 and Beck 14. Hall and Beck with 7 rebounds apiece helped McMurry to a 43-40 edge on the glass. Glenn Brown had 3 assists for McMurry, which shot .456 (26-57) from the field despite similar three-point woes, making only .250 (4-16) from long range.
In the tournament's second game, LeTourneau University clobbered host Colorado College 90-67. Saturday's schedule has George Fox (0-1) vs. Colorado College (0-1) in the consolation game at 6:00 p.m. (5:00 Pacific time), and McMurry (1-0) vs. LeTourneau (1-0) at 8:00 p.m.