Box Score

FOREST GROVE – Riley Grandinetti (Sr., Murray, Utah) scored a Pacific career high 20 points and was on fire from three-point range Monday night, but his effort could not overcome a hot shooting performance by Portland Bible as the Boxers fell to the Wildcats 70-63 in men's basketball action at the Stoller Center.
 
Grandinetti made his first four shots, all three-pointers, and scored 12 of the Boxers' first 14 points of the game.  He connected on 7 of 14 from the field and 6 of 12 from three-point range to go along with three rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block to lead four Pacific players scoring in double figures.
 
The Wildcats, however, blazed the nets for 57 percent shooting in the first half and finished at 53.7 percent (29-54) for the evening to end the Boxers' four-game win streak.  The total included 8 of 16 from three-point range.  Portland Bible also commanded the glass as they outrebounded the Boxers 37-28.
 
Mitch Wettig (Sr., Bend, Ore.) contributed his second double-double of the night with 16 points and 10 rebounds.  Skyler Burgess (Jr., Riverton, Utah) and Marc Eppinger (Jr., Camas, Wash.) each contributed 12 points.  The Boxers (5-4) finished shooting 39.7 percent from the field (25-63) and were 9 of 27 from three-point range.
 
Bryce Layne led Portland Bible (5-16) with 22 points on 7 of 17 from the field and 4 of 8 from the three-point arc.  Mozeek Waggener and Marsellus Gray each had 12.
 
Grandinetti's hot hand was enough to keep Pacific in the game early as a pair of his three-pointers and a Wettig lay-up allowed the Boxers to erase an eight-point Portland Bible lead and come within three with six minutes gone in the first half.  The Wildcats ballooned the lead back to eight points on Waggener's lay-in at the 13:09 mark, but a 9-2 run over the next four minutes, culminating on Eppinger's free throw with 9:47 to go, brought the Boxers within 24-23.
 
Portland Bible outscored Pacific 14-4 over the next seven minutes, with Raymon Taylor's lay-in with 1:50 left putting the Wildcats ahead 38-27.  Eppinger scored the final five points of the stanza, including a three-pointer with four seconds left, to bring the Boxers within 38-32 at the half.
 
After relying on the three-point shot in the first half, the Boxers moved the ball inside to come back within two points, 42-40, in the first four minutes of the second half.  Portland Bible, however, seemed to match Pacific whenever it looked like they could make a charge at the lead.  Layne's three-pointer with the shot clock expiring put the Wildcats back up with, 48-40, and Grey's trey with 8:31 to go gave the visitors their largest lead of 12 points, 57-45, with 8:31 left.
 
Pacific again made a late change as Wettig started an 8-0 run that brought the Boxers back within three points, 63-60, on Grandinetti's three-pointer with 3:49 to go.  Portland Bible answered again with Layne connecting on another three-pointer on their next possession to take the momentum out of the Boxers.
 
Pacific now turns its attention to Northwest Conference play and will open the league schedule on the road.  Pacific is at Pacific Lutheran on Friday and Linfield on Saturday. Live audio webcasts of both games can be heard at GoBoxers.com.