NEWBERG, Ore. – With six players scoring in double figures, led by Sean Atkins' 16 points, the George Fox University Bruins opened up the 2013-14 Northwest Conference men's basketball schedule with an 84-69 win over the visiting Linfield College Wildcats Saturday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.
With its third straight victory, George Fox improved to 6-1 overall, the best record in the conference, and 1-0 in the league. Linfield dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the NWC.
Linfield took its only lead with the first two points of the game on a layup by Cody Jurgens. A layup by Atkins and a three-pointer by Jason Martin put the Bruins in front 5-2 and they never trailed again, though there were two more ties, the last at 16-16 when the Wildcats' Chris Dirks hit a jumper with 9:41 left in the half.
Atkins broke the deadlock with a fadeaway jumper, sparking a 10-0 run that made it 26-16 Bruins with a 5:02 to go. After a pair of Jurgens free throws, Atkins drained a three to make it 29-18 with 3:37 left, the Bruins' largest lead of the period. A 9-2 Linfield run, capped by back-to-back buckets by Dirks, trimmed the deficit to four at 31-27 at the 1:41 mark, but a basket by Atkins and two by Spencer Bolte in the next 76 seconds got the margin back up to 10 at 37-27. A Tanner Brill charity toss for the 'Cats made it 37-28 Bruins at the break.
Atkins had 13 points for the Bruins to lead all scorers in the first half and Bolte added nine. Dirks scored six points to pace the Wildcats.
Eli Graham scored a pair of jumpers around a layup by A.J. Grant and Martin sank another three as the Bruins opened up a 16-point lead of 46-30 with 16:21 to play. Brill hit a free throw, but a layup by Graham and another trey by Martin gave the Bruins their first 20-point advantage of 51-31 with 14:56 remaining.
The lead reached 21 points at 55-34 on a pair of Jonny Howard free throws with 12:09 left, but consecutive threes by Cory Hendryx and Kevin Hurley pulled the Wildcats within 15 at 55-40. A jumper by Bolte and a trey by Howard got the margin back up to 20 at 60-40 with just under ten minutes to go, and another triple by Howard from the right corner at 7:11 made it 69-47, the largest lead of the game.
Three straight three-pointers, one by Hendryx and two by Brill, brought the Wildcats back within 13 at 72-59 with 4:39 left, but a layup by Chris Stanfield ended the run. A Seth Brent layup got the difference back up to 19 at 80-61 with 3:12 left and effectively sealed the Bruins' victory.
In addition to Atkins' game-high 16 points, Brent scored 14, Martin 12, Bolte and Howard 11 each, and Graham 10. The Bruins shot .529 (36-68) from the field, with Brent 7-11, Graham 5-5, Martin 4-7, and Howard 3-3, all three-pointers. Graham and Atkins just missed double-doubles with nine rebounds each, leading the Bruins to a 37-29 advantage on the glass. Graham and Grant handed out six assists apiece.
Brill with 14 points and Ryan Potter with 12, all on threes, led the Wildcats. Jurgens and Ryan Cali grabbed six rebounds apiece, and Brill contributed seven assists. The Wildcats shot .431` (22-51), with over half their attempts from beyond the arc as they made 11-32 (.344).
NEXT: Its four-game home stand over, George Fox hits the road to play Corban University next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. … Linfield goes to Northwest Christian University Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.