THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S BASKETBALL
GEORGE FOX AT PACIFIC
Game No. 24 • Home Game No. 13
Tues., Feb. 17, 8 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats, Audio & Video

PACIFIC AT WILLAMETTE
Game No. 25 • Away Game No. 10
Sat., Feb. 21, 6 p.m., Cone Field House, Salem, Ore.
Live Stats & Video | Live Audio

BOXER BYTES
• The eastern Washington schools showed Pacific little love over the Valentine's Day weekend.  On Friday, Whitman outscored the Boxers 41-29 in the first half and forced 23 Pacific turnovers to win 80-56.  No. 21 Whitworth was less kind, shooting 52 percent from the field and limiting the Boxers to 12 made shots on the night in an 89-50 victory.

• Despite the loss, Pacific remains very much in contention for the Northwest Conference's fourth playoff spot with two games to go.  The Boxers are tied for sixth in the NWC at 6-8, one game behind a fourth place tie between Puget Sound and Willamette at 7-7.  Puget Sound hosts Whitman and Whitworth this weekend, while Willamette will close with Pacific on Saturday.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
GEORGE FOX BRUINS
Location: Newberg, Ore.
Conference: Northwest (NCAA Division III)
2014-15 Overall Record: 5-18
2014-15 Conference Record: 3-11
Head Coach: Maco Hamilton
All-Time Series: Series tied 43-43
Last Meeting: Pacific won 91-82 at Newberg, Ore., on Jan. 20, 2015

George Fox Notes
• George Fox enters the week having lost their last five games and 10 of their last 11 contests.  The Boxers dropped both games of the eastern Washington trip last weekend.  JJ Lacey led four Bruins in double figures with 25 points in a 90-76 loss at Whitworth.  The next night, Rico Thomas led the way with 23 points, but Whitman forced 21 George Fox turnovers in a 95-83 Bruins' loss.

• Jonny Howard leads George Fox in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game.  He enters the week leading the NWC with a .835 free throw percentage.  JJ Lacey is not far behind with an average of 13.4 points per game.  Eli Graham is the Bruins' leading rebounder with an average of 6.1 boards per contest.

• As a team, George Fox enters the week averaging 76.3 points and 32 rebounds per game.  They are shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 70.7 percent from the free throw line.  The Bruins are being outscored by an average of 8.4 points per game.

• Maco "Shark" Hamilton is in his second season as George Fox head coach.  He came to the Bruins after a successful career at Union High School in Vancouver, Wash., and led Union to the Washington 3A state championship in 2010.

WILLAMETTE BEARCATS
Location: Salem, Ore.
Conference: Northwest (NCAA Division III)
2014-15 Overall Record: 9-14
2014-15 Conference Record: 7-7
Head Coach: Kip Ioane
All-Time Series: Willamette leads 73-34
Last Meeting: Willamette won 78-71 on Jan. 23, 2015

Willamette Notes
• Willamette has played themselves into the NWC playoff picture, having won three of their last four.  The Bearcats split their games last week.  On Tuesday, Lewis & Clark limited the Bearcats to 15 percent shooting in the first half and 11 field goals for the game as the Pioneers won 67-39.  Brandon Luedtke and Bridger Harlington each scored eight points.  

• On Friday, Willamette pulled away from a two-point halftime lead to outscore Pacific Lutheran 36-29 in the second half on their way to a 64-55 victory.  Harlington led three Willamette players in double figures with 15 points.

• Brandon Luedtke leads the Willamette offense and is fifth in the NWC, averaging 14.1 points per game, and is the conference's leading rebounder with an average of 9.4 boards per game.  Bridger Harlington and Brendon McCullough are both averaging 11 points per game.  

• As a team, Willamette is averaging 66.6 points and 34.6 rebounds per game while making 38.5 percent of their shots from the field.  Willamette is being outscored by an average 3.7 points per game.

• Kip Ioane is in his sixth year as Willamette head coach.  A 2001 graduate of Willamette and a finalist for the 2001 Josten's Trophy, Ioane took over from longtime coach Gordie James for the 2008-09 season.

PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
Finishing Strong: Mitch Wettig (Sr., Bend, Ore.) will aim to finish his Pacific career up strong this week and put the Boxers in position for a Northwest Conference playoff berth.  Wettig was among the Pacific scoring leaders in both games last weekend, scoring 10 to go along with seven rebounds at Whitman on Friday and finished with eight points at Whitworth on Saturday.  Wettig enters the final week of the regular as the Boxers' second leading scorer and the 10th leading scorer in the NWC, averaging 12.9 points per game.  He continues to be one of the best rebounders in the NWC as well, ranking fourth with an average of 7.3 rebounds per game.  He is third in the league with 169 total rebounds and 119 defensive rebounds and fifth in the NWC with 50 offensive rebounds.  Additionally, Wettig is ranked sixth in the NWC in field goals made (105), eighth in total points (296) and ninth in total minutes (677).

Firing Away To The Very End: You can be assured that Riley Grandinetti (Sr., Murray, Utah) will be firing away from outside right until the every end.  The senior enters the week leading the Boxers and ranked second in the NWC and 85th among NCAA Division III players with 56 three-pointers made.  He also ranks 84th among Division III players with 147 three-pointers attempted.  Grandinetti continued a streak of eight games with at least one three-pointer made over the weekend, making one each at Whitman and Whitworth.  Grandinetti enters the final week of his regular season ranked third for the Boxers in scoring, averaging 9.1 points per game.  Of his 23 starts this season, Grandinetti has made four or more three-pointers in seven of them.

A Four-Year Point Guard Run: Playoffs pending, Coby Proctor (Sr., Sublimity, Ore.) will end a great four-year as Pacific's starting point guard with this week's games.  Proctor was pushed into the starting role as a freshman after a broken wrist to senior guard Andrew Beatty ended his year four games into the 2011-12 season.  Since then, Proctor has been the Boxers' primary presence at guard.  He enters the week averaging six points per game.  He is ranked third in the NWC in assists (76), fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7), sixth in total minutes (714) and ninth in minutes per game (31.0).  Proctor scored nine points on Friday at Whitman and had six points at Whitworth on Saturday.

Stretch In The Post: Skyler Burgess (Jr., Riverton, Utah) has allowed the Boxers to continue to build a stronger presence in the post.  Burgess tied with Mitch Wettig for top scoring honord with 10 points, making all five of his shots from the field to go along with five rebounds.  Burgress is the Boxers' most accurate shooter, he enters the week ranked second in the NWC with a .556 field goal percentage, having made 75 of 134 shots.  He is also ranked 10th in the NWC with an average of five rebounds per game and 41 offensive rebounds.

Grandinetti Ties Three-Point Mark: Riley Grandinetti was can't miss for the Boxers in their win over George Fox on Jan. 20.  The senior scored 24 points, all on three-pointers, to tie the Pacific single game record for threes in a game.  Tony Beo set the mark in 1993, which was later tied by Brett Jefferies in 1995.  Grandinetti finished the night shooting 8 of 13, all three-point attempts.

Playoffs?: Despite having lost their last three games, Pacific is well within the conversation for the NWC's fourth playoff spot.  The Boxers enter the week tied with Pacific Lutheran at 6-8 and one game behind a tie between Puget Sound and Willamette at 7-7.  Pacific will help their cause by beating both George Fox and Willamette. Puget Sound hosts Whitman and Whitworth on Friday and Saturday.  Willamette plays Linfield in addition to the Boxers.  Tiebreaker scenarios are too vast to outline here and will become clearer after Friday night's action.

A Low Foul Count: Pacific continues to succeed in keeping the game fairly clean.  The Boxers lead the NWC and are 63rd in NCAA Division III with an average of 16.4 personal fouls per game. A total of two pacific players have fouled out this season.  A total of four Pacific players have fouled out over the last two seasons.

Firing Away From Outside: Pacific continues to fare well from outside the three-point arc.  The Boxers enter the week ranked 67th among NCAA Division III teams in three-point field goals per game with 8.0.  The Boxers also sit 81st with 515 three-pointers attempted and 66th with 183 three-pointers made.  Riley Grandinetti is individually ranked in the NCAA Division III top-100 in three-pointers made (56, 85th) and three-pointers attempted (147, 84th).

Add NCAA Statistics: In other areas of the Feb. 16 NCAA Division III statistics report, Pacific was ranked63rd in personal fouls per game (16.4), 81st in fewest fouls (377) and 96th in scoring defense (65.4 points allowed per game).  Updated NCAA Division III stats can be found at http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/ranksummary.

Making It To 50 Wins: With the Jan. 2 win over Linfield, Head Coach Tim Cleary became the seventh coach in Pacific men's basketball history to amass 50 victories.  Cleary, who was named head coach prior to the 2010-11 season, enters the week with a 55-67 record.  He is the first Pacific head coach to lead the Boxers to back-to-back winning seasons in 22 seasons (last happened in 1991-92 under Bob Bonn and 1992-93 under Ken Schumann).

Portland Metro Small College Hoops Podcast: For the third year, Pacific head coach Tim Cleary will be one of four Portland-area small college coaches featured on a weekly podcast hosted by Greg Crawford.  The Portland Metro Small College Hoops Show airs each Sunday night at 9:30 p.m.  The show regularly features Cleary, Lewis & Clack coach Dinari Foreman, Concordia (Ore.) coach Brad Barbarick, Multnomah coach Curt Bickley and Clackamas CC coach Clif Wegner.  To listen to the podcast, visit http://bit.ly/1x4RjqG.