FOREST GROVE – Colin Wester (Jr., Sherwood, Ore.) took over in the second half Monday night, leading Pacific away from a 31-31 tie at halftime to an 81-71 victory over New Hope Christian in men's basketball action at the Stoller Center.
 
Wester led all scorers with 33 points on 11 of 18 from the field, including three three-pointers, and 8 of 11 from the free throw line.  He scored 20 in the second half to go along with nine rebounds, a block and three steals.
 
Wester's second half effort led a torrid Pacific shooting team performance in the final 20 minutes as the Boxers shot 64.3 percent from the field (18-28) in the stanza.  Pacific finished shooting 51.8 percent for the game (29-56) and 19 of 27 from the free throw line.
 
Dustin Bowser (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) finished his first double-double of the season, scoring 13 points to go along with 13 rebounds and two blocks.  David Berney (Jr., Eugene, Ore.) connected for 10 points.  The win allowed the Boxers to improve to 6-2 on the season.  It is the team's best start since the 1996-97 Northwest Conference championship season.
 
Forest Stalk and Cameron Fry each scored 20 points to lead the Deacons (2-14), with Stalk pulling down a team-high nine rebounds.  New Hope Christian finished shooting 45.8 percent from the field (27-59) and went 8 of 20 from three-point range.
 
Pacific held the lead for most of the first half, but could never truly break the game open.  With the score 11-9 at the 14:19 mark, Boswer's lay-in started a 6-0 Pacific run that ended on Joey Burns' (Fr., Hermiston, Ore.) lay-in that gave the Boxers their largest first half, lead, 17-9, with 10:57 to go.
 
The Deacons charged right back with a 13-5 run, paced by nine points from Fry, that knotted the score at 22-22 with 3:48 to go.  Fry then connected on his third three-pointer of the stanza with 2:01 left to give New Hope their first lead at 27-26.  Corey Gantt made it a three-point lead with 50 seconds left before Wester connected for a three-point play to tie the score at 31-31 going into break.
 
New Hope opened the second half by opening their lead back up to 33-31 before two Wester free throws tied things again at 33-33 with two minutes gone.  Pacific could not build more than a five-point lead until Wester's lay-in ignited a 12-6 run, culminating on Berney's lay-in with 10:21 left, that gave the Boxers the 58-46 lead with 10:21 left.
 
The Deacons replied with a 7-1 run of their own, with a Stalk lay-in cutting the Pacific lead to 59-56 with 7:09 to go.  The Boxers built the lead back to 10 points over the next two minutes, going ahead 69-59 on Bowser's lay-in with 5:23 left.  Pacific continued to hold a 76-66 lead when the Deacons were forced to foul for possessions.  The Boxers responded by hitting 5 of 7 down the stretch for the win.
 
Pacific will board a plane to Texas in the morning to play in the Trinity National Invitational in San Antonio.  The Boxers will play Southwestern (Texas) on Wednesday before facing host Trinity on Thursday.  New Hope is off until Dec. 27 when they play at Warner Pacific.