Box Score

McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Mitch Wettig (Sr., Bend, Ore.) came alive for a career high 28 points Saturday as Pacific gave Head Coach Tim Cleary his 50th win in a 67-59 Northwest Conference men's basketball victory over Linfield at Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
 
The senior poured in his 28 points on 11 of 19 from the field and 4 of 6 from three-point range while finishing just shot of a double-double with eight rebounds.  Wettig bettered his previous career high of 26 points, which he had against Luther in Honolulu on Nov. 29.
 
After shooting just 35.6 percent from the field at Pacific Lutheran the night before, the Boxers (6-5, 1-1 NWC) shot 51 percent from the field (25-49) and went off for 60 percent in the second half.  The total included an 11 of 26 performance from three-point range and a 6 of 9 performance from the free throw line.
 
The win gave Cleary his 50th win as a collegiate head coach.  The fifth year headman of the Boxers is now 50-60 for his career and has guided the Boxers to back-to-back 15-plus win seasons.
 
Riley Grandinetti (Sr., Murray, Utah) added 14 points while Bobby Ahern (Jr., Madras, Ore.) finished with nine points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
 
A trio of Linfield players, Ryan Cali, Vinnie Toor and Trevor Howard, each finished with eight points to lead as 15 players saw action for the Wildcats (2-9, 0-2 NWC).  Cali also led the Wildcats on the boards with four.  Linfield finished the night shooting 42.2 percent from the field (19-45).
 
Pacific never trailed in the contest and jumped out to the early 9-4 lead on Ahern's three-pointer four minutes into the game.  Linfield managed to battle back within 13-9 on an Austin Murray free throw with 11:41 to go.  The Pacific lead was six at the 9:27 mark when Daniel Gunther's (Jr., San Jose, Calif.) three-pointer ignited an 11-3 run that gave the Boxers a 14-point lead, 28-14, with 4:26 left in the stanza.  Pacific would take a 34-23 lead into the break.
 
While Linfield narrowed the Pacific advantage to nine points twice in the opening minutes of the second half, the Boxers held strong with 60 percent shooting in the stanza.  The Wildcats were within nine, 45-36, with 12:36 to go when Grandinetti and Coby Proctor (Sr., Sublimity, Ore.) made back-to-back three-pointers to build a 51-36 lead with 15 minutes gone.
 
Pacific used Wettig's fourth three-pointer of the game to build their largest lead of 16 points, 61-45, with 3:15 left.  From that point, Linfield went on a torrid run that saw the Wildcats go on a 14-6 run to end the game.  DeQuam Walls reduced the Linfield deficit to single digits with his three-pointer with 1:41 left.  Kevin Hurley followed with baskets on Linfield's next two possessions to make it a four-point game, 63-59, with 29 seconds left.  Proctor's lay-up on the ensuing possession closed out the game.
 
Pacific returns to the Stoller Center on Friday, continuing NWC play by hosting Lewis & Clark at 8 p.m.  A live video webcast of the game can be seen at GoBoxers.com.