PORTLAND, Ore. – On a Sunday evening in the Rose City, the Linfield Wildcats defeated the hosting Portland Bible Wildcats in convincing fashion 84-62. Linfield was led by junior guard
Will Burghardt, who scored 21 points to go along with two assists.
In a highly competitive first half, Burghardt got off to a strong start with 12 points and converted all nine of his free throw attempts in only 10 minutes.
Dempsey Roggenbuck scored nine of his 16 total points to give Linfield a six-point halftime lead.
Portland Bible struggled to only a 35 percent field goal percentage in the first half but hit five three-pointers to hang around. PBC then opened the second half with multiple three-point bombs to cut the deficit to two points. Halfway through the final frame, Linfield stretched its lead to double digits on a Roggenbuck three before gaining the largest lead of 25 points with two minutes left to go.
Linfield's
Chase McClain played well with 10 points to go along with three assists and three rebounds in 15 minutes to lead all Wildcat freshman.
"We got a glimpse of the great player
Chase McClain will be," said Rosenberg. "He played great tonight and really made big strides this last week."
Starters
Tanner Autencio and
Austin Hilton had well-rounded performances. Autencio had six points and five rebounds to go along with three steals as the defensive catalyst for Linfield. Hilton scored eight points and collected six rebounds while adding one block and a steal.
Linfield hit over half its shots in the second half and also knocked down 7 of 11 triples in the final half. The Linfield bench contributed 26 points and the team as a whole scored 20 points off of PBC turnovers.
"
Dempsey Roggenbuck was a force of energy and will for us in the second half. Will played a much better second half, as well.
Tanner Autencio's hustle and playmaking was great," said Rosenberg.
Antoine Walker of Portland Bible College was spectacular with 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting, hitting all five of his three point tries in 31 minutes. Ahmad Kempster stuffed the stat sheet with five points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Linfield held Portland Bible to 38 percent shooting from the field.
UP NEXT
Linfield (5-1) returns home Monday to host Northwest Indian College at 5 p.m. in Ted Wilson Gymnasium. Coverage on the Linfield Sports Network begins at 4:40.