MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Avenging their loss from the night before, the Linfield Wildcats throttled the George Fox Bruins, 100-74 at Ted Wilson Gym on Saturday. Dempsey Roggenbuck continued his strong showing against the Bruins with 28 points and three steals.
 
Linfield the splits the first of two home-and-home series over the Bruins. The two teams meet again on April 9-10.
 
"The team was really prepared for tonight's game. We were prepared last night, I felt the best we could be, but George Fox played exceptional and that was too much for us to overcome in our first game," said coach Shanan Rosenberg. "However, I was confident we would all get better tonight."
 
The Wildcats were firing on all cylinders, leading 13-2 early in the first half and extended it to 18-4 on an and-one by Roggenbuck. At the midway point of the first half, the Wildcats lead 31-7 on a three pointer by Jackson Dupree. Roggenbuck shot 9 for 14 from the field and made nine of his 10 free-throw attempts. He also had two steals.
 
"Dempsey Roggenbuck was nothing short of spectacular this weekend, I'm so proud of his growth," added Rosenberg.
 
Will Burghardt beat the first half buzzer to give Linfield a 57-32 lead at the break. Burghardt had 16 points, four assists and three rebounds in the game. Max Lommen stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, five rebounds and a steal.
 
"Will and Max also played very well for us tonight, they responded the way champions do. With maturity, purpose, perspective and fight," said Rosenberg, on the two senior guards.  
 
The other two starters Aaron Baune and Matt Berger had 14 and six points respectively. Baune had three rebounds, two assists and one steal as well. Berger had eight rebounds and three assists.
 
"Matt Berger was a force around the rim and really stepped up tonight and was a huge force of fortune in all phases," said Rosenberg.
 
Off the bench, Carson Bonine and Alex Jaczko had seven points each. Bonine had four rebounds as did Kellen George.
 
"It was great to see Carson Bonine, Kellen George, Alex Jaczko and Jackson Dupree play so well. Really the whole team did great, but those guys really gave us a lift as the first guys off the bench," concluded Rosenberg.
 
Charlie Powers led the Bruins with 17 points, Ryan Lacey had 10 and Zac Schmerber had 13. Powers also had six rebounds and Brendan Ritschard had four steals.
 
Linfield's defense restricted George Fox to shoot 35.3 percent from the field, while the Wildcats shot 63.3 percent.
 
UP NEXT
Wildcats are the odd-team out in the Northwest Conference schedule among the three Oregon schools next week. Linfield treks to Portland to face Warner Pacific on Friday at 2 p.m. before returning home to face the Knights on Saturday at 8 p.m.