MCMINNVILLE, ORE. – Fueled by 52 points off the bench, the Linfield men's basketball team picked up their fourth win of the season on Friday night, toppling the Walla Walla Wolves 74-51 in Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
"Good to get back in the win column tonight," said head coach
Shanan Rosenberg after the game. "I thought we played some very nice stretches tonight."
Freshman
Danilo Petrovic led the way for Linfield (4-4, 1-1) with career highs of 17 points and 7 rebounds with 8 for 16 shooting from the field.
The Wildcats established themselves early in the game on both ends of the floor, creating a double-digit lead on a
Reece Gibb three-pointer to make the score 25-14 with 8:16 left in the first half and never allowed Walla Walla (0-7, 0-3) back within 10 points for the rest of the night.
Linfield shot over 50 percent from the field and over 40 percent from three in the first half while holding the Wolves to 33 percent from the field and just 2 for 15 from three to take a 40-27 lead into the locker room.
The Wolves hit a couple of key shots early in the second half to trim the deficit back to 11 with 16:01 to play in the game, but Linfield executed an impressive 17-0 run over the next eight minutes to stretch the lead to 28, their biggest of the night, at 64-36 with 8:11 left to play.
11 of Petrovic's points came in the second half. Linfield's three leading scorers all came off the bench on Friday, with
Trey Bryant scoring 14 points with eight assists and four steals and Gibb adding 11 points with six rebounds.
Jackson Dupree was the only starter to finish with double-digit points, scoring 10 on 4 for 4 shooting.
"
Danilo Petrovic and
Trey Bryant both played very well," said Rosenberg. "I liked the improvement in rebounding as well. I was grateful our bench was engaged in the game."
The Wildcats owned the glass to win the rebound battle 42-33, with 10 offensive rebounds. Linfield also forced 18 Walla Walla turnovers, 14 from steals, resulting in 26 points off turnovers, compared to just 12 for Walla Walla.
On the night Linfield shot 49.2 percent from the field and 30.4 percent (7 for 23) from three while holding Walla Walla to 31.5 percent from the field and just 13.6 percent (3 for 22) from three.
"We are still a ways aways from our potential, but we made some strides in the right direction tonight. We're off for finals week and then back at it with tough D-III games ahead," said Rosenberg.
NEXT
The Wildcats will head to Spokane after finals week for the Whitworth Tipoff Classic, where they will play the Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders (3-3, 1-2) on Dec. 20 and the St. John's Johnnies (7-2, 5-1) on Dec. 21.
After Christmas, they'll wrap-up non-conference play at home against Illinois Wesleyan (5-3, 3-0) on Dec. 29 before resuming the Northwest Conference schedule on Jan. 3 in McMinnville against Willamette (3-5, 0-2).