NEWBERG, Ore. – With a trio of players setting career highs in points - Spencer Bolte with 27, Jason Martin with 25, and Eli Graham with 17 - the George Fox University Bruins out-gunned the visiting Corban University Warriors 95-82 in a non-conference men's basketball game Tuesday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.
George Fox jumped out to a 7-3 lead on a pair of Graham free throws, a three-pointer by Martin, and a fast-break layup by Bolte, establishing a pattern for the game, but the Warriors forged an 8-8 tie with 14:49 left in the half on a three by Jordan Carter and two free tosses by Caleb Herzberg. The Bruins then reeled off 13 unanswered points over the next two-and-a-half minutes to take control with a 21-8 advantage. The run featured long-distance threes by J.J. Lacey and Martin and a conventional three-point play by Graham.
The Warriors trimmed the deficit to eight at 21-13 with 11:19 remaining on a layup and a three by Herzberg, but Bolte nullified that with a layup and trey of his own, doubling the score to 26-13 at the 10:30 mark, and the lead never dropped into single digits again. Leading 44-31 with just under four minutes to go, the Bruins closed the half with a 14-6 outburst, nine of the points by Bolte, and led at the break 58-37.
With Bolte scoring 18, Martin 17 (including four threes), and Graham 12 in the half, the Bruins shot .567 (17-30) while holding the Warriors, who entered the game shooting .537 for the season, to only .371 (13-35). Herzberg had 15 points to lead the visitors.
The Bruins scored the first five points of the second half on a free throw by Seth Brent and baskets by Graham and A.J. Grant, extending the lead to 63-37 two minutes in. Grant's three at 15:51 made it a 29-point lead of 68-39. The Warriors trimmed the margin to 18 at 72-54 with a 15-4 run over the next four minutes, six of the points on two baskets and two free throws by Cyrus Ward, but back-to-back layups by Brent and Bolte got the Bruin lead back up to 22 with 10:40 left.
Corban then made a 20-8 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes, bringing the margin to 10 at 84-74 with 5:18 to play on a three-point play by Carter. Martin hit his sixth three-pointer, however, Bolte followed with a fast-break jam, and Martin canned two charity tosses to end the Corban streak and get the George Fox lead back up to 91-74 with 3:35 to play, safely salting the game away.
Bolte hit 10-15 from the field, Martin sank 6-12 three-point tries, and Graham drained 8-8 free throw (he is 21-21 on the season) en route to their personal best performances. Each also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds as the Bruins held a 44-41 edge on the boards. Grant passed out six assists and made three steals, and Martin had a pair of blocked shots. George Fox finished with a .500 shooting percentage (29-58), hit 12-28 threes (.429), and canned 25-31 free throws (.806).
Herzberg led the Warriors with 25 points on 9-15 shooting, including a quartet of threes, Carter added 18, and Ward scored 17, hitting 7-9 from the floor. Josiah Sebens had a game-high nine rebounds, while Andrew Evans handed out four assists and made three steals. Caleb Dozier also had three swipes. Corban shot .403 (31-77), but only .258 (8-31) from beyond the arc, and .600 (12-20) from the stripe.
NEXT: George Fox (4-1) plays the third of its four-game home stand when the Bruins host their third straight NAIA and Cascade College Conference opponent, Northwest Christian University, next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. … Corban (3-3) faces Willamette University Friday at 4:15 p.m. in the Capital City Classic hosted by Western Oregon University in Monmouth.