Box Score

FOREST GROVE – Mitch Wettig's (Bend, Ore.) 18 points gave way to nail-biter finish Friday night as the Boxers held on to take a 71-69 victory from Puget Sound in Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the Stoller Center.
 
Wettig led four Pacific players to finish in double figures as the Boxers (11-9 6-5 NWC) won their third straight game and the fifth in the last six contests.  He went 7 of 11 from the field to along with eight rebounds.
 
The performance, however, could not hold off a frenzied Puget Sound comeback that saw the Loggers come back from nine points down to come within one points with 4:42 left.  Puget Sound was within two with 43 seconds left before Bobby Ahern (Jr., Madras, Ore.) converted three of four free throws in the final 30 seconds to all but assure the victory.
 
Riley Grandinetti (Sr., Murray, Utah) added 15 points on 4 of 6 from three-point range and 3 of 4 from the free throw line.  Ahern finished with 14 points and DeVon Pouncey (Jr., Vallejo, Calif.) came off the bench to score 13 points on 6 of 8 from the field.  Pacific finished the night shooting 53.3 percent from the field (24-45) and 45 percent from three-point range (9-20).
 
Kohl Meyer came off the bench to lead Puget Sound with 25 points.  He went 10 of 13 from the field and scored 14 points in the second half alone.  Nick Holden added 12 points and James Osorio finished with 10.  The Loggers (10-9, 5-6 NWC) finished the night shooting 49 percent from the field (24-29) and 76 percent from the free throw line (16-21) and out-rebounded the Boxers 28-27.
 
After a closely contested contest over the first nine minutes, the Loggers surged out to a 22-15 lead on a dunk by Meyer at the 8:44 mark.  Pacific scrambled back over the next three minutes, tying the game at 24-24 on Pouncey's jumper with 5:01 left.  Pacific pulled ahead 29-27 on Skyler Burgess' (Jr., Riverton, Utah) free throw with 3:22 left and led 34-32 with 17 seconds left, but Kohl hit a lay-up with three seconds left to send the teams to the locker room tied at 34-34.
 
Despite having three forwards in foul trouble, Pacific turned to the inside game to try and break the game open early in the second half.  Pouncey scored the Boxers' first six points of the period before a Grandinetti three-pointer and a Wettig free throw gave the Boxers a 44-36 lead at the 14:26 mark.  Pacific would eventually take its largest lead of the game, 49-40, on an Ahern three-pointer with 10:49 to go.
 
The Pacific lead was 56-48 with 7:19 left when the Loggers went on a 7-1 run to make it a game down the stretch.  Nick Holden had five of the seven points for the Loggers and Meyer's jumper with 4:42 left made it a 56-55 game.  After matching the Loggers over the next three possessions, Pacific went back up six on a Burgess lay-up with 1:45 left. 
 
Puget Sound reduced the lead back to two points two more times and were within 68-66 before Ahern hit his string of three of four free throws to put Pacific up 71-66 with 24 seconds to go.  Puget Sound succeeded in coming back within two on a long Meyer three-pointer with three seconds left and had a look at a half court shot for the win after two missed Pacific free throws, but the attempt went off the right side of the backboard.
 
After a four-game home stand, Pacific is on the road for their next three games.  The road trip opens at Lewis & Clark on Saturday night.  A live audio webcast of the game will be available at GoBoxers.com.  Puget Sound will play at Willamette.