The Linfield men's basketball team survived a late rally from the George Fox Bruins Saturday night to win 76-71 in Newberg, led by a career performance from senior forward
Aaron Baune.
Baune recorded his first double-double of the season with 28 points and 13 rebounds, both career highs for the McMinnville product. He shot 10 for 15 on field goal attempts while shooting seven for seven from the line and recorded a block and a steal. It was Baune's second double-double of his career.
The game started evenly matched through the first 10 minutes of the contest but a layup by Baune at the 10:35 mark sparked a 20-5 run over the next seven minutes to help Linfield take a 35-25 lead into halftime.
Linfield continued its strong play in the second half, leading by double figures for much of the period and at one point stretching their lead out to as large as 19 with 7:16 remaining in the game on a pair of made free throws by
Dempsey Roggenbuck.
Roggenbuck finished with 14 points despite shooting just two of nine from the field. He shot 10 of 12 from the free throw line, matching his career bests in both makes and attempts.
The 'Cats as a whole lived at the line on Saturday, shooting 31 of 36 from the charity stripes, season highs in both makes and attempts.
Despite the ample cushion, George Fox turned it on down the stretch, and outscored Linfield 31-19 over the final seven minutes of action. With just 27 seconds to play a Bruins three-pointer by James Moore cut the lead to eight.
Moore's three was immediately followed by another three-pointer by Zac Schmerber with 16 seconds remaining on the next George Fox possession following a fast-break opportunity started by Austin Clark stealing the ball away from Baune.
However, two made free throws apiece by Roggenbuck and
Max Lommen in the final 15 seconds of the game proved enough for Linfield to hold on for the win, despite the conversion of a three-point play opportunity by the Bruins' Kalu Stricklin on the game's final play.
"Fox did a great job fighting back down 19 in the second," said Linfield head coach
Shanan Rosenberg. "I give them a lot of credit for their willfulness to compete tonight."
Both teams played well defensively, holding each other to below 40 percent shooting from the field, Linfield shooting 38.6 percent and George Fox shooting 35.4 percent.
The Wildcats were able to survive a dismal performance from the three-point line, making just one of 13 attempts. It was Linfield's worst game shooting three-pointers since January 4, 2011, when the 'Cats made just one of 15 threes in a 74-66 loss at Lewis and Clark.
Where they struggled shooting the ball Linfield made up for in rebounding, winning the battle of the boards with a season-high 47 rebounds to 36 for George Fox. 12 Linfield rebounds were on the offensive side of the floor, leading to 13 second chance points.
"If it wasn't for our free-throw shooting and defense we were in trouble tonight," said Rosenberg. "Our team for most of the game played great defense and rebounded very well. Our team is finally getting whole, although we have some rust to work off for sure."
This was the third win in a row for the Wildcats, improving their record to 9-3 overall and 4-0 against Northwest Conference opponents. They now sit alone in first place atop the NWC standings with Pacific Lutheran losing to Whitworth Saturday night.
The Bruins fell to 8-6 overall and 3-2 in conference play. They sit tied for fourth in the NWC standings.
NEXT
The Wildcats are on the road again for the next three games. They travel to eastern Washington to take on Whitworth and Whitman on the 18
th and 19
th to make up games postponed earlier in January. Both games will tip-off at 8:00. They then play at Willamette on the 21
st before returning home to host Pacific Lutheran on the 22
nd.