PORTLAND – What had the potential for an up-paced contest proved to be a slow, grinding battle Friday night as Lewis & Clark outlasted Pacific 45-42 in Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the Pamplin Sports Center.
Neither team led by more than eight points in the contest, nor shot over 40 percent for the game. Pacific (3-19, 2-11 NWC) finished shooting 30.8 percent from the field (16-52) while the Pioneers (16-6, 9-4 NWC), who remain in contention for a NWC playoff position, shot 35.7 percent for the game (15-42).
LeMar Anglin (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) led all scorers with 17 points and nine rebounds, connecting on 7 of 14 from the field. Colin Wester (So., Sherwood, Ore.) added 11 points and seven rebounds. The Boxers also finished shooting 8 for 10 from the free throw line and out-rebounded the Pioneers 37-30.
P.J. Taylor led three Lewis & Clark players in double figures with 14 points, 12 of which came on three-pointers. Kyle Meeuwsen added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Donato Perconti scored 11. L&C went 9 of 28 from three-point range and 6 of 8 from the charity stripe.
Neither team could find the basket for the first five minutes of the contest before Taylor opened scoring with his lay-up at the 15:12 mark. The Boxers came back to score the next six points, taking their largest lead of the game at 6-2 on a Wester lay-in. The Pioneers charged back to score 11 of the next 13 points, taking a 13-8 lead off of a Meeuwsen trey.
Pacific reduced the deficit back to three two minutes later when Anglin's jumper with six minutes left. The Pioneers scored the next three points to take a 16-10 lead and would hold on to that margin to go into halftime leading 20-14.
The Boxers challenged for the lead early in the second half, coming within 20-18 on a short Anglin jumper two minutes into the period. Taylor and Perconti replied by hitting back-to-back three-pointers that gave L&C their largest lead of the game, 26-18, at the 17:06 mark. The Boxers made two more hard charges at the lead over the first 10 minutes, coming within one on Carson Bartlett's (Jr., St. Helens, Ore.) trey with 15:19 left and tying the game at 34-34 when Anglin connected with 10:39 left.
Lewis & Clark did just enough, though, to stay ahead. Taylor increased the L&C lead back to six on his last three-pointer of the night with 6:26 to go, but the Boxers rallied to come back within two points on Wester's lay-in with 2:06 left.
Perconti made it a three-point L&C lead when he connected on one of two free throws with 48 seconds to go. The Pioneers never got the ball back, but the Boxers missed on three attempts to tie it in the final minute thanks in part to smothering L&C defense.
Pacific concludes the road portion of the 2010-11 season on Saturday, traveling to McMinnville to take on Linfield. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.