SALEM, Ore. – A buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of regulation and a record night at the free throw line by Anthony Sanchez carried the George Fox University Bruins to a come-from-behind 89-82 overtime victory over the Corban University Warriors in a non-conference men's basketball game Friday night here at the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Sanchez hit a three off an inbounds pass from Spencer Bolte with 4/10ths of a second left that knotted the game 71-71 at the end of the second period and was the first time all game the Bruins had not trailed. He then proceeded to hit 7-of-10 free throws in overtime as the Bruins went 14-of-19 from the line in the extra period to pull out the win.
Sanchez finished with a 16-of-23 effort from the stripe on the way to a team-high 23 points, tying the Bruins' record for free throws made in a game (by Kenny Stone vs. the College of Idaho on Jan. 28, 1987, and Aaron Schmick at Linfield on Jan. 10, 2006). His 23 attempts shattered the previous high of 19 tries by Stone and Grant Hartenstein, the latter at Southern Oregon on Nov. 21, 1995. The Bruins made 37-of-50 from the line in the game to 7-of-12 for the home team, tying the team record for attempts (vs. Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 14, 1970, and vs. Western Oregon on Feb. 15, 1986) and falling two short of the record for made free throws (39 vs. Lewis & Clark on Jan. 8, 1971).
Corban jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game on a jumper by Marcus Butler, a three by Dustin Moore, and a layup by Moore. After Sanchez's first free throw got the Bruins on the board, the Warriors took their first double-digit lead of 15-5 on a three by Taylor Fox with 15:12 left in the half. The Bruins climbed back within two twice in the half, the last at 20-18 on a pair of free throws by Bolte with 9:28 left, but the Warriors took off on a 18-6 run over the next seven-and-a-half minutes to build a 38-24 advantage after a trey by Jacob Kopr. The lead was 40-29 at the break when Kopra sank a layin with a second to go.
The second half amounted to little more than an exchange of points until Corban took its largest lead of the period at 67-55 on a layup by Cyrus Ward with six minutes to play. Over the next five minutes, the Warriors missed five shots and committed two turnovers as the Bruins rallied with a 10-0 run, Josh Garlington hitting a three to start the comeback and a free throw with 1:09 left to make it a one-point game of 67-66. The Warriors' Andrew Evans and the Bruins' Sean Atkins exchanged buckets, but Atkins committed a foul right after his jumper with 17 seconds left and Kopra hit a pair of free throws for a 71-68 Corban lead. Garlington missed a potential tying three with eight seconds left but Jon Adrian rebounded for the Bruins, setting up Sanchez' tying bomb with only 0.04 showing on the clock.
In overtime, there were three early ties before the Bruins took the lead for good on a layup by Atkins that made it 79-78 with 1:23 to play. The Bruins scored the rest of their points from the line, hitting 10-of-12, two makes by Sanchez with eight seconds left giving the visitors their biggest lead at 89-80.
Sanchez added a game-high 11 rebounds to his big scoring night for a double-double, Atkins chipped in with 22 points on 7-of-11 from the field, and Garlington and Bolte added 12 and 10 points respectively. Atkins was 8-of-12 from the line, Garlington 7-of-8, and Bolte 4-of-4. George Fox held a 42-36 edge on the boards. Sanchez also passed out four assists, while Atkins had four blocked shots and three steals.
Moore paced the Warriors with a game-high 26 points, including 6-of-8 from beyond the arc, and Butler chimed in with 11. Josiah Sebens had a team-high nine rebounds, Evans handed out five assists, and Moore and Fox had two steals each.
NEXT: George Fox (5-3) visits NCAA Division I Portland State University next Saturday, Dec. 15, with a 7:35 p.m. tipoff in PSU's Stott Center ... Corban (2-6), which extended its national-record string of games with a made three-pointer to 853 in a row, hosts California Maritime Academy this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.