MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – On the strength of one of their best second half performances of the season, the Linfield men's basketball team won 68-53 Friday night against the Pacific Boxers.
The Wildcats (7-11, 4-5) executed an 18-point swing in the second half after trailing the Boxers (9-10, 4-6) 30-27 at halftime, thanks to lockdown defense. Linfield held the Boxers to 23 points on 25 percent shooting from the field and a 1 for 14 mark from three while outrebounding Pacific by eight.
Kicking off the start of the second-half of the Northwest Conference schedule, the 15-point margin of victory was Linfield's largest since Dec. 10.
"I loved our rebounding and physicality tonight," said head coach
Shanan Rosenberg, following the win. "Our second half defense in particular was stellar, I'm proud of how we locked in and made it tough."
Pacific found a rhythm early in the game to open up a 12-4 lead and trigger a Linfield timeout.
But the Wildcats immediately responded out of the break with a 7-0 run to pull within a point, and eventually gained their first lead of the night on a
Danilo Petrovic layup off a
Trey Bryant assist to make the score 21-19.
From there the score was tied three times before a Boxer three gave Pacific a one-possession lead at halftime.
The Boxers led by as much as four in the second half before a
Reece Gibb three sparked a 14-2 run for the Wildcats to regain control of the game and lead by eight with 12:37 remaining.
Pacific managed to trim the deficit back down to four, but Linfield ripped off another 10-0 run over the next 4:56 to take their first double-digit lead of the night.
Although the Boxers continued to fight hard Linfield led by as much as 18 down stretch, the largest lead of the night for either side.
Although senior
Alex Jaczko led Linfield in scoring with 13 points on 5 for 8 shooting, the Wildcats got extensive production from young players producing 44 points off the bench.
Petrovic followed as Linfield's second-leading scorer with 12 points on 6 for 8 shooting with a game-high 5 rebounds, a block and 2 steals.
Bryant scored 11 points, his seventh straight game in double-figures, tied Petrovic in rebounds with five, and dished out four assists.
Sophomore
Jake Downing also scored 11 points, in 13 minutes all in the second half, a new career high. He hit three of Linfield's five three-pointer for the game.
Sophomore
Josh Puccinelli continued to be a spark plug off the bench for the 'Cats as well, scoring 8 points and grabbing three rebounds in 10 minutes. Fellow sophomore
Cayden Lowenbach grabbed four rebounds and blocked a shot in 14 minutes of run.
"Danilo, Cayden,
Josh Puccinelli and
Jake Downing all had impactful contributions in big moments, that was really cool to see them do so well," said Rosenberg. "
Trey Bryant also gave us a timely lift in the second half."
For the game the Wildcats shot 48.1 percent from the field, 26.3 percent from three (5 for 19), and 68.8 percent (11 for 14) from the free throw line.
Like Linfield's defense, it was in the second half where the offense shined. The 'Cats shot 54.17 percent from the field and made all five of their threes for the game on 10 attempts after halftime. 14 of Linfield's free throw attempts also came in the second frame.
Pacific shot 32.8 percent from the field, 15.4 percent from three (4 for 26) and 73.3 percent (11 for 15) on free throws.
The Wildcats also delivered one of their best rebounding performances of the season, outrebounding the Boxers 42-29. It is their highest rebound total and best rebound margin since Jan. 3. Linfield scored 12 second chance points off 12 offensive rebounds.
The Linfield win evened the season series at a game apiece and avenged the Wildcats' 67-57 loss to Pacific on Dec. 3. It also moved Linfield into a three-way tie for fifth place in the Northwest Conference standings while dropping the Boxers to eighth.
NEXT
Linfield will look for back-to-back wins tomorrow night in Newberg, Ore. against George Fox (5-13, 4-5) at 6:00 with a chance to sweep the season series against the Bruins.
That game starts a four-game road stretch for the Wildcats, and a run of six of seven on the road.
Linfield visits Willamette (5-12, 1-8) in Salem on Tuesday, Jan. 31 before traveling to Tacoma to take on Pacific Lutheran (10-8, 4-5) on Saturday, Feb. 4.
The 'Cats wrap up the road stretch on Friday, Feb. 10 again in Tacoma against Puget Sound (13-5, 6-3) before finally returning home to celebrate Senior Day on Feb. 11 when they play host to Lewis and Clark (11-7, 5-4).