Box Score

FOREST GROVE – Mitch Wettig's (Sr., Bend, Ore.) 16 points led a first half scoring barrage from outside for Pacific Friday night as the Boxers rolled to a 66-52 win over Linfield in Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the Stoller Center.
 
Wettig scored 12 of his 16 in the opening half, which included four three-pointers, as the Boxers bolted out to a 34-27 lead halftime behind 14 of 28 from the field and 8 of 16 from three-point range.  Over the first eight minutes of the period, Pacific shot 78 percent from outside.  Linfield would take advantage of a cooler second half by the Boxers, but would never get close than six points.
 
Bobby Ahern (Jr., Madras, Ore.) added 13 points, including three three-pointers, while Coby Proctor (Sr., Sublimity, Ore.) scored 10.  In addition to his 16, Wettig finished just one short of a double-double with a game-high nine rebounds.  Pacific (9-9, 4-5 NWC) finished the night shooting 45.1 percent from the field (23-51) and 45.8 percent from the three-point line (11-24).  The Boxers also held a 38-29 advantage in the boards.
 
Chase Walker came off the bench to lead Linfield with 12 points.  Matt Woods contributed right points.  The Wildcats (2-16, 0-9 NWC) finished the night shooting 39.5 percent from the field (17-43) and just 3 of 15 from three-point range.
 
Pacific opened the game by hitting their first three three-pointers, bolting out to the 9-0 leadon Ahern's trey at the 17:34 mark.  It would be six-and-a-half minutes before Woods hit Linfield's first field goal with 14:29 left to go in the first.  Pacific kept the foot on the gas, going up 13 points on Wettig's third three-pointer with 12:06 left and Skyler Burgess' (Jr., Riverton, Utah) lay-in with 10:08 left gave the Boxers their biggest lead of the game at 28-9.
 
Linfield managed to pull back with 13 points, 30-17, on Walker's free throws with 7:04 to go.  Pacific bounced right back to score the next five points, going ahead 35-17 on Proctor's three-point play with 4:52 left.  Linfield scored seven of the final eight points of the half, with Ryan Cali's tip-in with second seconds left bringing the Wildcats within 37-24 at the half.
 
Pacific's hot shooting cooled considerably in the second half, and Linfield acted quickly to reduce their deficit to single digits.  Austin Murray's lay-in three minutes in reduced the Pacific leaf to 37-30 and Trevor Howard's free throw with 14:26 left brought the Wildcats with six points, 42-36.  The same stayed in that range for the next five minutes before DeVon Pouncey's (Jr., Vallejo, Calif.) lay-in at the 10:43 mark started a 6-0 run, ending on Burgess' free throw with 7:42 left that made the lead 14 points, 55-41.
 
Linfield would reduce the lead to single digits one more time, coming within 57-48 on Connor Sende's free throw with 2:44 to go.  The Wildcats fouled down the stretch to gain possessions and had a chance with pacific shooting 7 of 14 in the final two minutes, but the Wildcats went 1 of 7 from the field in that same stretch.
 
Pacific returns to the home floor on Saturday, hosting Pacific Lutheran with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.  A live video webcast of the game will be available at GoBoxers.com.  Linfield will play at George Fox.