McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Breaking a tie for sixth with their Yamhill County counterparts and moving into a tie for fifth place in the Northwest Conference men's basketball standings, the George Fox University Bruins knocked off the Linfield College Wildcats 76-61 for a split of their season series Friday night here at Ted Wilson Gym.
George Fox improved to 8-16 overall and 6-9 in the conference, while Linfield fell to 9-15 overall and 5-10 in league play. The Bruins are now tied for fifth with the University of Puget Sound, an 89-85 loser in overtime at Lewis & Clark College, and the two will break that knot Saturday when they meet in the season finale in Newberg.
Linfield jumped to an early 4-1 lead on baskets by K.C. Wiser, the conference's leading scorer, and Sergio Rosario, but Stephen Wiseley tied it for the Bruins with a three-pointer that ignited an 8-0 run and gave George Fox a 9-4 lead four minutes in. Zach Anderson's three buckets and two by Rosario, one a trey, keyed a 15-5 Linfield run as the Wildcats took their largest lead of the game at 19-14 with 11:43 left in the period.
The Bruins then took the lead for good with a 12-0 outburst that gave them a 26-19 advantage with 7:50 to go. They stretched it to 10 at 35-25 on a Cole Whitehurst jumper with five minutes left, but did not score again in the half as the Wildcats made it 35-32 at the break with a closing 7-0 rush.
Whitehurst hit two baskets as George Fox opened the second half with a 10-4 run, taking a 45-36 lead three minutes into the period before Linfield made one final comeback attempt. A jumper by Teagan Dooley and back-to-back threes by Rosario and Anderson cut the Bruins' lead to one at 45-44 with 15:12 to play. The Bruins answered with eight points in row on two Mike Taylor makes, two free throws by Wiseley, and a jumper by Rich Smith for a 53-44 lead with 13:23 left. The Wildcats got no closer than six the rest of the way.
Taylor gave the Bruins a double-digit lead for good with a basket at 9:09 that made it 61-50, and they built 16-point leads three times, the last at 70-54 on another jumper by Taylor, who had 15 in the second half. He also put an exclamation point on the Bruins' win with a thunderous dunk off a feed from Wiseley for the final points of the game with 26 seconds left.
Wiseley led a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Bruins with 25 points, 14 in the first half, followed by Taylor with 17, Whitehurst with 15, and Smith with 10. Taylor notched his fourth double-double with 10 rebounds, passed out four assists, made five steals, and blocked two shots. Wiseley also had four picks as the Bruins collected 13 steals, forcing 19 Linfield turnovers while committing only eight themselves.
Wiser finished with 17 points to pace the Wildcats, while Anderson added 13 and Rosario 10. Wiser's nine rebounds led the Wildcats to a 46-31 margin on the boards. Rosario handed out three assists.
NEXT: George Fox hosts Puget Sound and Linfield visits Pacific Lutheran University Saturday to close out the regular season, both games starting at 8:00 p.m. NWC women's games will come first at 6:00 p.m.