The Linfield men's basketball team pulled out another close win Saturday night at home, beating Puget Sound 74-68 for the Wildcats' fourth straight victory, tying their longest win streak of the season.
The win improved Linfield to 13-5 overall this year, 8-2 against Northwest Conference opponents and 7-0 in Ted Wilson Gymnasium. The Wildcats sit in second place in the NWC standings.
Puget Sound fell to 8-11 overall and 3-7 against conference oppponents.
The defensive-focused game was closely contested for much of the night and even when Linfield held double-digit leads for stretches in both the second and first halves, the game never seemed out of reach for Puget Sound.
"We made good stops all night, but struggled to lock down some good looks and free throws," said head coach
Shanan Rosenberg. "That hurt us when we got up and couldn't string together enough plays to open the game a bit.
Linfield did lead for almost the entire contest, with the Loggers holding the lead just twice all night, both times in the first half. A converted and-one opportunity by
Dempsey Roggenbuck put Linfield in front 13-12 at the 13:43 mark, and the 'Cats would not surrender the lead for the rest of the night.
Up 36-30 at halftime, Linfield stretched their lead to 13, the biggest of the night, out of the break with a 9-2 run with three-pointers from
Trey Bryant, Roggenbuck and
Aaron Baune.
Baune provided a big lift for Linfield in the second half, and finished the night leading the 'Cats with 20 points on 7 for 14 shooting with eight rebounds and two blocks, one of four Wildcats finishing the night in double-figures. He nabbed six of his rebounds in the second half.
"I thought
Aaron Baune played fantastic tonight," said Rosenberg. "He was really a man possessed on the glass second half."
The Linfield lead hovered around 8-to-12 points for much of the second half, thanks in part to lockdown defense from freshman
Trey Bryant and a much-needed bench scoring performance from sophomore
Jackson Dupree.
Bryant would finish the game with just six points, but pulled down seven rebounds, dished out four assists and recorded four steals and a block. Dupree scored 14 points on 7 for 9 shooting with two rebounds and two steals. It was the second-highest scoring performance of Dupree's career.
"
Trey Bryant made some huge defensive plays and is just an awesome rebounder for us," said Rosenberg. "It was exciting to see
Jackson Dupree play well. He's a heck of an athlete and becoming a terrific player, I was happy to see him make some great plays tonight."
But the Loggers were able to trim the Wildcats' lead to three with a late push, executing a 12-3 run beginning at 4:52 mark and making the score 69-63 with just 2:12 left to play.
But thanks to clutch defense and free throw shooting, the 'Cats were able to close out the game 74-68 with Baune, Roggenbuck and
Carson Bonine combining to hit five of Linfield's final six free throw attempts.
Roggenbuck finished at Linfield's second-leading scorer behind Baune with 15 points on 5 for 10 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 shooting on free throws to go with three rebounds and two blocks.
Max Lommen added 12 points with two made three-pointers, three assists and three steals.
Paul Johnson led the way in scoring for the Loggers, finishing with 20 points on 6 of 16 shooting. Mussie Teclamariam contributed 16 points and seven rebounds.
The Wildcat defense caused problems for Puget Sound all night as the Loggers turned the ball over 17 times, 12 from Linfield steals. The Wildcats capitalized heavily on the Logger mistakes, scoring 26 points off turnovers.
Alternatively, Linfield only turned the ball over eight times and rarely let Puget Sound take advantage, the Loggers scoring just two points off turnovers.
Over the last three contests Linfield is averaging just 6.6 turnovers per game. Their 11.8 turnovers per game for the season is the best mark in the NWC.
Linfield shot 45.9 percent from the field for the game, but just 23.8 percent from three (5 for 21) and 61.9 percent on free throws (13 for 21). The held Puget Sound to 43.9 percent from the field but the Loggers still shot 38.1 percent on three-pointers (8 for 21) and 83.3 percent on free throws (10 of 12).
The Loggers won the battle of the boards quite handily, 41-29. They pulled down 14 offensive rebounds compared to 12 for the 'Cats. Both teams registered nine second-chance points.
NEXT
With just six games to go in the season, Linfield will face their toughest Northwest Conference foe on Friday night when the host the first-place Whitworth Pirates (16-2, 9-1) with tip-off scheduled for 8:00. They then host the Whitman Blues (8-9, 6-3) on Saturday with tip-off at 6:00.
UPDATED SPECTATOR POLICY
To ensure that the Linfield Community, i.e. Students, Staff, and Faculty, remain as healthy as possible during the latest surge of COVID cases due primarily to the Omicron Variant in Oregon, Linfield Athletics is adjusting our current athletic contest spectator policy to the following:
- For home-based basketball games, home and visiting student-athletes will be allotted 4 family member spectator tickets; those 4 people will be on a list and must provide proof of vaccination at the door. They will also be expected to sit together at the event. No additional spectators will be allowed entry at this time.
- There will be no admission charge for approved spectators.
- All participants, coaches, spectators and operations personnel must comply with mask use while inside our facilities (except players or officials during active competition and practice). This means wearing the mask over your mouth & nose at all times. No exceptions AND non-compliant individuals will be told to leave the venue!
- Spectators are asked to space themselves throughout the bleachers, as per physical distancing guidelines.
- There will be no band attendance.
- Concessions will not be sold until further notice. Food is not allowed in our venues, but non-alcoholic drinks may be consumed during events as long as proper masking is taking place between actively taking a drink.
These adjustments are temporary, and we will re-evaluate all protocols regularly.