NEWBERG, Ore. – Before a "Bruin Madness IV" crowd of some 1,200 roaring fans, the George Fox University Bruins raced out to an early 20-6 lead, then kept the University of Puget Sound Loggers at arm's length on the way to an 89-77 Northwest Conference men's basketball victory Saturday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.
Spencer Bolte had his second straight game of 20 or more points, pouring in 27 on 11-16 shooting to pace the Bruins. A.J. Grant added 13 points, while Sean Atkins and Jason Martin scored 10 apiece. Seth Brent with nine points and J.J. Lacey with eight just missed double figures. Martin and Brent grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds, Grant passed out four assists, and Bolte and Grant made three steals each.
Erin Barber almost single-handedly kept the Loggers in the game, tossing in 33 points, 22 in the second half, on 11-16 from the floor and 8-9 from the line. Rex Nelson chipped in with 12 points and made it a double-double night with 11 rebounds as the Loggers held a 52-43 advantage on the boards. Barber and A.J. Maw had three assists each, and Maw made three steals.
Atkins hit a three-pointer to get the Bruins on the board first and they never trailed in the game, though there was one second-half tie. Bolte scored eight points in a 14-0 Bruin run over a six-minute span that extended the lead from 8-6 to 20-6 midway through the opening period. However, the Loggers got back in the game with a 25-15 surge over the rest of the half, Nelson leading the way with seven points in that stretch. The Bruins led 35-31 at the break.
With Barber scoring his team's first 11 points of the second half, Puget Sound eventually pulled into a 42-42 tie on a Barber three with 13:33 left in the game. The Bruins retaliated with seven straight points on a three by Martin and baskets by Lacey and Bolte, and stretched it to 16 at 69-53 on a layup by Bolte at the 8:28 mark. The Loggers got no closer than 10 thereafter, at 77-67 on a three by Barber with 3:36 left, but an 10-2 run gave the Bruins their largest lead of 87-69 on a layup by A.J. Grant with 1:55 left and cemented the victory.
With their second straight win, the Bruins improved to 12-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference, pulling into a three-way tie for third place with UPS and Lewis & Clark College, which lost 81-65 at league-leading Whitworth University Saturday. Puget Sound had its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 9-8 overall, 5-3 in the NWC.
NEXT: George Fox begins the second half of the conference season Tuesday at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., tipping off at 8:00 p.m. following the Bruins-Wildcats women's game at 6:00 p.m. … Puget Sound's next game is also at Linfield on Friday at 8:00 p.m., with the women's game at 6:00 p.m.