FOREST GROVE – Carson Bartlett (Jr., St. Helens, Ore.) did his part to give Pacific a look at a victory Friday night, but it proved to be too little in the end as Puget Sound scrapped their way to a 79-73 win over the Boxers in Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the Stoller Center.
Bartlett finished with a game-high 23 points, connecting on 9 of 13 from the field and 2 of 4 from three-point range. He scored 16 of his 23 in the second half on a combination of athletic lay-ins and good looks from downtown. He paced one of the best shooting nights for the Boxers (3-15, 2-7 NWC) in some time as the team connected on 52.8 percent from the field (28-53).
Puget Sound (7-11, 4-5 NWC) shot 39.1 percent from the field (25-64), but won the game from the three-point and free throw lines. The Loggers shot 8 for 20 from downtown and 21 of 30 from the free throw line. In addition, the Loggers out-rebounded the Boxers 46-30.
Bartlett's 23 led four Pacific players to finish in double figures. Andrew Beatty (Jr., Lynnwood, Wash.) scored 13, Colin Wester (So., Sherwood, Ore.) came off the bench to score 12 and LeMar Anglin (Sr. Chicago, Ill.) added 10. Adam McElwee (So., Woodinville, Wash.) finished with a team-high six rebounds.
Anthony Gittens led Puget Sound with 19 points and nine rebounds, scoring 17 of his points in the second half despite spending much of the stanza in foul trouble. Aaron Edwards came off the bench for 15 points. Kaleb Shelton added 12 points and Edric Egberuare finished with 10.
Pacific set a frantic scoring pace early, scoring the first seven points on the contest on a Bartlett trey and two lay-ins. After the Loggers marched back to take a one-point lead just three minutes in. The teams traded leads four times in what proved to be an evenly matched period. A Wester free throw knotted the game for the fifth time at 28-28 with 5:43 left. Edwards and Gittens would hit the only two made shots the rest of the half, giving the Loggers a 32-28 lead at the break.
The Boxers opened the second half with a deficit, going down six on a Gittens' lay-in a minute and a half into the stanza. Back-to-back lay-ins by Bartlett and Anglin narrowed the deficit back tot two and Bartlett secured the game's sixth tie with a jumper at the 17:25 mark. The Boxers finally re-gained the lead on a Charles Mosley (So., Hillsboro, Ore.) lay-in at the 14:02 mark, but the Loggers surged to take a 54-49 lead on an Edwards lay-in.
Wester and Bartlett scored the next five points to knot the game at 54-54 halfway through the period and eventually took a three-point advantage on a Bartlett lay-in with 8:40 left. The Loggers replied with a 6-0 run, with Colbert hitting a three with 7:58 left to take a three-point lead at 62-59. Pacific tied it two more times before Edwards scored on a tip-in with six minutes left to give Puget Sound the lead for good at 66-64.
Puget Sound built a five-point lead and the Boxers managed to come back within two on a pair of McElwee free throws with 2:59 left, but four missed field goals in the final three minutes forced the Boxers to foul. The Loggers hit all six charity shots the rest of the way to earn the win.
The Boxers return to the home floor on Saturday as they host Pacific Lutheran. Tip-off is scheduled is scheduled for 8 p.m. It is School Night With The Boxers. Elementary school students and their parents will be admitted free with a flier handed out in Forest Grove schools this week.