McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Jason Martin came off the bench to score 17 points, hitting 6-of-8 from the field with 5-of-7 from three-point range and sparking the George Fox University Bruins to a 71-67 overtime win over the Linfield College Wildcats in a Northwest Conference men's basketball meeting of Yamhill County rivals Friday night here at Ted Wilson Gym.

George Fox scored the first points of the game 15 seconds in on a hook by Seth Brent, but did not score again for over six minutes, missing nine straight shots as Linfield built an 8-2 lead on two baskets by Zach Meikle and one each by Kevin Hurley and Brandon Harris.  A three-pointer by A.J. Grant at 13:50 ended the Wildcats' run, and the Bruins twice closed within one, the last at 17-16 on a jumper by Spencer Bolte in the lane with seven minutes to go in the half.

Andrew Batiuk sparked a 9-0 Linfield run over the next three-and-a-half minutes with layups as the Wildcats built their first double-digit lead of 29-19 with 3:40 left.  Grant hit a pair of threes to cut the lead to seven, but two free throws by Nick Cantonwine and a Batiuk bucket gave Linfield its largest lead of 33-22 with 1:20 to go.  Two Sean Atkins free throws left the score 33-24 Linfield at the half.

The Wildcats kept the lead between five and nine points for the first seven minutes of the second period before Martin nailed a three to bring the Bruins within two at 41-39.  Another Martin trey gave the Bruins their first lead since the opening seconds at 44-43 with 11 minutes to play.  Linfield fought back to regain the lead 49-47 on a jumper by Harris with 5:42 remaining, but Josh Garlington's three at 5:18 put the Bruins back in front. 

The George Fox lead reached six at 57-51 on a three by Atkins from the right corner with 2:49 left, but the home team stormed back with seven unanswered points on baskets by Meikle and Batiuk and a trey by Harris to take a 58-57 lead with 59 seconds left.  Atkins' free throw with 30.5 ticks left knotted it 58-58, and Anthony Sanchez's steal with 16 seconds to go gave the Bruins a chance for the win, but Atkins missed a jumper and Brent's tip-in at the buzzer was ruled too late.

Batiuk gave Linfield the first lead of overtime with a layup, and after Grant hit a triple to put the Bruins up by one, Batiuk hit a jumper as the Wildcats went back in front.  Martin drove in for the Bruins' go-ahead basket with 3:12 to go, and Martin and Sanchez hit threes to extend the lead to seven at 69-62 with 1:43 left.  Two free throws by Meikle and and a three by the 6-9 Batiuk from the top made it a one-possession game of 69-67 with 38 second remaining, and Meikle's steal gave the Wildcats a chance to tie, but Batiuk missed a short jumper with 13 seconds to go and the rebound went out of bounds to the Bruins.  Sanchez canned two free throws with 7.6 showing to seal the Bruins' win.

Martin, who scored a career high, was joined in the Bruins' scoring column by Grant and Sanchez with 14 points apiece and Atkins with 10.  The Bruins did not shoot particularly well (24-68, .353), but drained 13-of-36 threes (.357).  Sanchez had team highs of seven rebounds, four assists, and five steals.

Batiuk, the conference's leading scorer, had a double-double for the Wildcats with 24 points and 10 rebounds, and also blocked three shots.  Harris added 15 points and Meikle 10 as Linfield shot .458 (27-59) but only made 5-of-14 threes.  Harris passed out five assists and Hurley made three steals.  The Wildcats controlled the backboards 42-36.

NEXT: George Fox (6-4, NWC 2-0) plays the final game of an eight-game road stretch Saturday at Willamette University while Linfield (20-10, NWC 1-2) hosts Pacific Lutheran University Saturday, both games set for 8:00 p.m. starts.  Women's NWC games will precede the men's games at 6:00 p.m.