SALEM, Ore. – Dempsey Roggenbuck poured in 34 points - one short of his career-high - and the Linfield Wildcats withstood a sustained effort by the Willamette Bearcats before pulling away in the final five minutes for a 100-93 Northwest Conference victory Friday night inside Cone Field House.

"Dempsey was nothing short of amazing tonight," praised Wildcats coach Shanan Rosenberg. "We may have been in real trouble without him. He wasn't going to let us lose and ran the floor beautifully all night."
 
Linfield (10-2, 3-0 NWC) remained unbeaten in conference play along with with Whitman, Whitworth and George Fox.
 
Willamette (2-9, 0-3 NWC) suffered its second straight defeat after a pair of December wins over Portland Bible and UC-Santa Cruz.
 
1st half
The game's opening five minutes produced a 10-all tie before Linfield launched a 15-0 run to take momentary command. The game had all the marking of a runaway before Willamette awoke and moved within four points of the Wildcats at the intermission, 41-37. Six three-pointers by the Bearcats, combined with a 24-14 rebounding advantage during the first period allowed the hosts to maintain close contact.
 
Roggenbuck nailed 7 of 10 shots on the way to 17 first-half points. Liam O'Reilly added nine points for the 'Cats, who shot 51.7 percent from the field. Linfield had its way near the rim, outscoring Willamette 22-6 in the paint.
 
2nd half
The Wildcats surged in front by a dozen points, 70-58, following a backcourt steal by Tanner Autenicio, who fed the ball to Max Lommen for an easy bucket. But the Bearcats responded with a 7-2 run to cut the margin to seven shortly after. With 6:07 left, O'Reilly converted a three-point play, pumping the difference back to 10 points, 82-72. The Bearcats never came closer than seven after that.
 
Linfield by the numbers
Roggenbuck made 12 of 17 shots from the floor and 7 of 8 at the free throw line while O'Reilly accounted for 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Autencio finished with 10 points, two assists and a couple of steals. Grant Gibb scored 10 points while nabbing four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
 
The Wildcats shot 54.7 percent from the field and 42.1 from three-point range. Linfield was also stellar at the free throw line, converting 22 of 27 charity tosses.
 
Willamette summary
Five Bearcats scored in double figures. Jordan Jenkins paced the balanced attack with 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Trent Callan and Jonathan Watts both totaled 17 points. Caleb Roberts had 13 points and Justus Eaglesmith chipped in with 12.
 
The Bearcats outworked the Wildcats on the backboards, owning a 41-27 edge, including a 15-6 differential on the offensive glass. Willamette did concede 17 turnovers, resulting in 22 Linfield points.

Rosenberg's remarks
"First off, I give Willamette a ton of credit for not folding every time we extended our lead to double digits. They fought back and we didn't. It's unfortunate we couldn't put them away when we made runs. We hurt ourselves and Willamette made some great plays.
 
"Tanner Autencio played incredible and was really, really good tonight. Max Lommen and Aaron Baune gave us great minutes as well.
 
"I'm glad we were able to seize control of the game eventually, but we'll need to be sharper moving forward if we expect to win on the road."

Next
Linfield returns to Ted Wilson Gymnasium Saturday afternoon for an NWC contest against the Puget Sound Loggers. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. with live videocast coverage starting at 5:50.