MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield men's basketball team fell 76-68 Monday night in a tight battle with the Illinois Wesleyan Titans of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
Rescheduled from Dec. 28, Monday's game was the first ever meeting between the Wildcats (6-11, 3-5) and the Titans (9-8, 5-3).
"Hard fought game tonight, I was proud of how our guys fought," said head coach
Shanan Rosenberg after the game. "That was a physical, big team that really imposed themselves on us. We didn't lay down and I'm proud of how we gave ourselves a chance at the end."
The two teams traded baskets and traded the lead through the opening minutes before Illinois Wesleyan took the lead for good on a made three to go up 14-12 with 12:28 remaining in the half.
The Titans led by as much as 12 in the first half, but Linfield trailed by just eight points at halftime despite being on the wrong side of the rebound margin, the points off turnover battle and after shooting just 2 for 15 from three.
The Wildcats, playing in their third game in four nights, showed good energy out of the locker room but found themselves down 14, the largest lead of the night, after back-to-back Illinois Wesleyan threes.
But from there the 'Cats executed a 15-3 run to trim the deficit to just two points with 14:13 on the clock.
The two teams continued to battle the rest of the night with the Titans extending their lead back out to double figures twice.
But Linfield was able to keep the margin within single digits for the final 5:10 of the game, coming within four points of Illinois Wesleyan three times, including on a
Trey Bryant layup with 29 seconds left to make the score 72-68.
But the Titans got the rebounds and free throws they needed late to close out the game, winning Illinois Wesleyan's first ever contest in the state of Oregon.
"This will serve us well as our young players in particular learn to understand how hard and physical they need to play and how much preparation matters to succeed," said Rosenberg.
Senior forward
Reece Gibb led the Wildcats with 14 points, his most since Jan. 3, on 5 for 10 shooting with three made three-pointers, six rebounds and two steals.
Bryant was the only other Wildcat to finish in double-digit scoring, with 11 points to go with a team leading seven rebounds, four assists and five steals, tying his career high. It was Bryant's sixth straight game with at least 10 or more points.
The Wildcats ended the night shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three (10 for 34) despite a massive improvement in outside shooting in the second half, going 8 for 19 after halftime.
But the Titans, who shot 46.4 percent from the field, also shot the ball well from three in the second half, in uncharacteristic fashion for a team that was shooting just 29.4 on three-pointers heading into Monday night.
Against Linfield they hit 12 of 27 three-pointers (44.4 percent) including an 8 for 15 mark (53.3 percent) in the second half, tying their season best for three-point makes and percentage in a single game this season.
Illinois Wesleyan was led in scoring by Lucas Halfden, who scored all 17 of his points in the second half, with 15 coming from beyond the arc.
Cody Mitchell followed with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Titans won the rebound battle 39 to 27, including 12 offensive rebounds leading to 11 second chance points, but the Wildcats actually held a slim advantage on the glass in the second half, 18 to 17.
Linfield won the turnover battle 11 to 16 but could only capitalize for 12 points compared to 16 for Illinois Wesleyan. The Wildcats also outscored the Titans in the paint 30 to 22 and got more points from their bench, 28 to 24.
NEXT
Linfield resumes conference play on Friday night in McMinnville against the Pacific Boxers (9-8, 4-4) at 8:00, wrapping up Linfield's five-game homestand and kicking off the second half of the Northwest Conference schedule.
The 'Cats then head to Newberg, Ore. on Saturday to take on the George Fox Bruins (4-12, 3-5), with tip-off set for 6:00. Saturday's game will start a run of six of seven games on the road to end the season.
It will be another quick turnaround for the Wildcats next week, as on Tuesday Jan. 31 they'll head to Salem for a date with the Willamette Bearcats (5-11, 1-7).