McMINNVILLE, Ore. – The University of Redlands men's basketball team (3-1) bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 90-73 road win at Linfield University Tuesday night thanks to a first half where they held the Wildcats to only 23 points.
It was all Redlands in the opening five minutes as they led by 15, 19-4, thanks to five points from Omari Ferguson and four points from Dayvon Gates.
The Bulldogs maintained their double-digit lead for the final 16:46. Ferguson finished with 11 points and Gates had six. Redlands held Linfield to 34.5 percent from the field and only one made three.
After scoring the final two points of the first, the Wildcats scored seven of the first nine of the second half and drew within 12, 42-30.
The Bulldogs, though, got four points from Logan Dorsey and three from Jake Hlywiak to begin a 9-0 run that made it a 21-point game.
The largest lead came on Ferguson's 20th and 21st points at the tail end of an 8-0 run that made it 76-52 with 9:07 to play.
Unlike their last game at Pacific University (Oregon), Redlands were able to close out the game as the closest Linfield got was 14 when there was only 70 seconds remaining in the game.
Ferguson, Gates, and Hlywiak all scored in double figures with 21, 14, and 12 points respectively. Jhace Boston had a big game defensively with eight rebounds, a block, and eight steals. Ware added five steals and Ferguson also had three.
Redlands gets a few days off before they conclude their four-game Oregon trip at Lewis & Clark College on Friday, November 29 at 1:00 p.m.