MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – One of the most dominant second halves of the season led to the Linfield men's basketball seniors getting a win in their final game in Ted Wilson Gymnasium on Saturday night, knocking off the Lewis and Clark Pioneers 75-69.
The Wildcats were also fueled to victory by another career performance from sophomore guard
Trey Bryant, who posted 26 points with 14 rebounds.
"Great to be back home tonight, and what a special night for our seniors," said head coach
Shanan Rosenberg. "
Trey Bryant was sensational, and we need him to be the great player he was tonight."
The game started as a back-and-forth battle featuring 14 lead changes and seven ties. At halftime Linfield (10-13, 7-7) found itself down a point to Lewis and Clark (13-10, 7-7), 34-33.
The Pioneers made it a two-point lead with a split pair of free throws from Jack Henderson to open the second half but the Wildcats tied it up on the next possession on a mid-range jumper from
Alex Jaczko.
Jaczko's bucket was the beginning of 14-2 Linfield run that gave the 'Cats the lead for good and put them up by double-figures for the first time at 46-36 at the 15:51 point of the second half.
Eleven of the points in the run were either scored by or assisted on by Bryant.
The Pioneers responded to trim the deficit to five, but that's the closest they would come to the Wildcats for the rest of the night.
Linfield immediately ripped off another 14-0 run to get the lead to the largest of the night at 67-48 with 5:21 to play.
Lewis and Clark managed to get back within eight down the stretch, but the damage had already been done. The Wildcats were able to ice the game with a nine-point lead with 12 second remaining on a
Danilo Petrovic free throw.
A three from Henderson as time expired made it just a six-point win for Linfield, the final score of 75-69 making the game appear closer than it was in the second half.
The Wildcats completely controlled the game after halftime, shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from three while holding the Pioneers to 30.6 percent from the field and just 22.2 percent from three.
Linfield also won the rebound battle 23-17 in the second half.
For the game the Wildcats shot 50 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from three (9 for 19) while the Pioneers shot 39.1 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from three.
Linfield won the rebounding battle 44-32 and scored 15 second chance points on their 14 offensive rebounds.
"I thought our defense really forced them into tough situations tonight and that had an impact," said Rosenberg. "Our team rebounding was excellent as Lewis and Clark has been a great rebounding team."
Bryant led all players in both scoring and rebounding. He shot 11 of 20 from the field with two made threes and added three assists and five steals.
It was the second-highest scoring and rebounding performances of his season and of his career.
Bryant has now scored 20 or more points in six games this season, has finished in double-digit scoring in 14 straight contests and has recorded a double-double in four of his last five games.
Jaczko and
Reece Gibb followed in scoring with 10 points apiece.
Henderson led the Pioneers with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Brendan Patrick, the Northwest Conference's scoring leader at 21.8 points per game coming into Saturday, was limited to 16 points on 6 for 16 shooting.
The Wildcats also got big contributions from their bench with 48 points.
Twenty six points came from Bryant, but
Jake Downing contributed seven points on 3 for 4 shooting, Petrovic added six points, six rebounds and a block,
Logan Morrill scored six points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots and
Chase Bennett hit a crucial three as part of Linfield's 14-0 run.
"
Logan Morrill played huge and important minutes for us and showed why as only a freshman he is going to be a very good player in years ahead," said Rosenberg. "I thought
Chase Bennett and
Jake Downing gave us great minutes off the bench as well."
"Huge week prepping for the east side ahead, but I hope the seniors really enjoy this one – it was memorable for them."
NEXT
The Wildcats will wrap up the regular season with a trip to eastern Washington next weekend, visiting the Whitworth Pirates (14-9, 9-5) in Spokane on Friday before traveling down to Walla Walla to take on the first-place Whitman Blues (19-4, 12-2) on Saturday.