PORTLAND, ORE. – The Linfield Wildcats men's basketball team improved to 2-2 on Sunday afternoon with an 85-40 victory at Portland Bible College, their largest margin of victory since January 21 of last season against Willamette.
The Wildcats left no question who the superior team was from the opening jump, shooting 61.3 percent from the field with eight made three-pointers while holding Portland Bible to 28.5 percent from the field in the first half.
Linfield's hot start fueled them to a 47-20 lead at the halftime break.
Senior
Carson Bonine led the Wildcats in scoring on the night with a season-high 17 points on 6 for 8 shooting with five made three pointers, tying his career best mark from outside.
Bonine also added two rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Senior
Jack Stallard followed with a career high 13 points in 12 minutes off the bench, also hitting a career best in made threes with perfect 4 for 4 shooting from behind the arc.
Sophomore
Trey Bryant added 12 points on 5 for 5 shooting with two made threes. He also filled up the rest of the stat sheet with a game-high six rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block.
Sophomore
Cayden Lowenbach tied Bryant for the game-high in rebounds with six, a new career-high.
Portland Bible freshman Quorey Bays led the home team in scoring with 15 points, playing all 40 minutes.
The Wildcats ended the night shooting 56.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from three, making 15 of 30 three-pointers, both new season bests for the team.
They held Portland Bible to 32.6 percent from the field and without a make on nine attempts from three.
Linfield also set new season highs in total rebounds with 39, rebound margin by beating Portland Bible on the glass by 18, assists with 24 and blocks with three. 20 different Wildcats got to see playing time throughout the game.
"It's was great to see
Trey Bryant and
Carson Bonine play so efficient and shoot so well," said Wildcats coach
Shanan Rosenberg. "Both guys are very capable and important to us, and I've been tough on them early this year in challenging them to level-up. The whole team was better with execution and defensive tenacity."
NEXT
The Wildcats take their .500 record into conference play this weekend, hosting George Fox (1-5) on Friday at Ted Wilson Gymnasium before going on the road to visit Pacific (3-3) on Saturday in Forest Grove. Linfield then resumes the non-conference schedule with a game at Warner Pacific (3-2) on Dec. 8 before hosting Walla Walla (0-4). They'll then take a trip to Spokane for the Whitworth Tipoff Classic to play No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor (2-1) on Dec. 20 and No. 25 St. John's (3-2) on Dec. 21 before closing out non-conference play at home on Dec. 29 against No. 21 Illinois Wesleyan (2-3).