MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Trailing by as much as 10 points in the first four minutes of the game, the Linfield Wildcats came back to beat the Willamette Bearcats, 97-73 at Ted Wilson Gym on Saturday night.
 
Linfield is now winners of nine straight and handed Willamette its third straight loss to start the season. The Wildcats are 9-1 overall this season.
 
Jack Boydell, who had 26 points and four rebounds on Saturday night, hit a 3-pointer at the 16:08 mark to make it 13-5 in favor of Willamette, who led 16-6 at the 15:03 mark in the first half on a 3-pointer by Paul McSlarrow.
 
The Wildcats answered back with an 11-2 run to pull to within one and took their first lead of the game at the 9:37 mark on a layup by Dempsey Roggenbuck, who had game-high 32 points on 12 for 20 shooting. He also had three rebounds and four assists.
 
"Willamette really came out ready to play tonight and it showed," said coach Shanan Rosenberg. "Fortunately, we found our stride after halftime and our three senior guards, especially played spectacular."
 
Linfield's largest lead of 12 points in the first half came right before the buzzer on another layup by Roggenbuck. Its largest lead of the game came at the end of the second half, when a layup by Jack Greenwood made it 95-69.
 
Max Lommen had 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal. This was the first career double-double for the senior from Portland, Oregon. Aaron Baune fell one rebound shy of a double-double, he had 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
 
"Max Lommen with 12 rebounds knocked me off my feet. Man, he was good tonight, great to see," added Rosenberg. "Not to be out done by Dempsey, who really kept us competitive in the first half and played another outstanding and efficient game."
 
Will Burghardt also scored in double figures, he had 12 points, six assists and two steals. Starter Matt Berger had five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
 
The scoring off the bench came from Alex Jaczko, who had four, Kellen George and Nick Tripaldi with three each and Josh Hair had two as did Greenwood. Jaczko and George had three rebounds as well.
 
"Aaron Baune and Alex Jaczko provided some much-needed energy and hustle that gave us a great lift. I'm real proud and happy for those two guys," said Rosenberg. "It was great to be able to get a number of guys minutes and I thought our young players did a great job in the second half."
 
Linfield shot 54.1 percent from the field and made nine 3-pointers. The Bearcats shot 45.9 percent and made eight 3-pointers. They missed 11 free-throw attempts.
 
The Bearcats second leading scorers were Joshua Perez and Daniel Plumer with 16 each. Plumer came off the bench and also had six rebounds. Demarco Reed had seven assists.
 
"We hope to honor our four seniors, including graduating seniors Will Burghardt and Matt Berger, two tremendous seniors with stellar play and improvement this coming week," concluded Rosenberg.
 
UP NEXT
Linfield ends its abbreviated 2021 season by taking on Pacific next weekend. The Wildcats are at home on Friday at 8 p.m. and in Forest Grove on Saturday, April 24 at 6 p.m.