NEWBERG, Ore. – The Linfield men's basketball team, on the road for the first time since Jan. 13, beat their cross-county rival George Fox Bruins 70-67 Saturday night in Wheeler Sports Center.
It was the second-straight win for Linfield (8-11, 5-5) and their third in the last four games, their best record over four games this season.
"Man, these nailbiters are getting old, but I'm glad we found the right side of it," said head coach
Shanan Rosenberg. "Give credit to our rebounding and defense down the stretch."
The Wildcats turned in their best rebounding performance of the year against the Bruins (5-14, 4-6), pulling down a season-high 54 boards compared to just 28 for George Fox, for a season best margin of +26.
Linfield's 17 second chance points off 18 offensive rebounds proved to be a huge difference maker, with the Bruins mustering just five second-chance points on four offensive rebounds.
The game was high scoring through the first half, with a back and forth start before Linfield eventually found themselves up 41-39 at halftime.
But the Bruins responded out of the locker room to regain the lead and led by as much as eight several times throughout the second half, including with as little as 7:06 left to play.
Still down seven with 5:26 to play the Wildcats had to make a push and did to tie the score at 65 on a pair of free throws by
Trey Bryant. A
Carson Bonine three with 1:11 left gave Linfield the 68-65 lead for good.
Although the Bruins trimmed the deficit to as little as one point in the final moments, clutch free throws from Bryant iced the game for the Wildcats.
"
Carson Bonine hit a huge three to separate at the end that really gave us a lift," said Rosenberg. "
Trey Bryant had a great free throw night and handled pressure very well."
The game featured eight lead changes and 11 ties before the final buzzer.
"Give Fox a lot of credit, I thought they played very well defensively. Short turn around for a huge game in Salem on Tuesday," said Rosenberg.
Linfield got the bulk of their production from three players, seniors Bonine and
Alex Jaczko and sophomore Bryant. Bonine and Bryant led the 'Cats in scoring with 21 points apiece.
Bryant's performance was his fifth 20-point game of the season, on 7 for 14 shooting with an 8 for 10 mark from the free throw line. He also led Linfield with a career high 13 rebounds for his third double-double of his career and second of the season and dished out three assists.
Bonine's 21 points tied his season high, on 8 for 15 shooting with five made threes, while Jackzo, a product of Newberg High School, scored a season-high 17 points on 8 for 15 shooting to go with six rebounds and a block.
"Alex Jackzo, who played in his last game in his hometown, was fantastic for us tonight. I'm really happy for him," said Rosenberg.
For the game the Wildcats shot 37.1 percent from the field and 28 percent from three (7 for 25) with a 73.3 percent mark on free throws (11 for 15).
On the other end they held George Fox to 34.4 percent from the field, 27.6 percent from three (8 for 29) with the Bruins shooting 85 percent from the line (17 for 20).
NEXT
Linfield will quickly turnaround to head down to Salem on Tuesday night to take on the Willamette Bearcats (5-13, 1-9) with tip-off scheduled at 8:00.
They'll then head to Tacoma on Saturday, Feb. 4 to take on Pacific Lutheran (10-9, 4-6) before heading back to Tacoma again on Feb. 10 to play Puget Sound (13-6, 6-4), before returning home for Senior Day on Feb. 11 against Lewis and Clark (12-7, 6-4).