Pacific saw five players score double figures, led by Branden Kawazoe’s 18 points, to improve to 8-11 overall, 5-6 NWC. Kawazoe scored 15 of his 18 in the first half, while his teammates pulled yeoman’s duty in the second. Rahim Tufts finished with 11 while Erin Gram , B.J. Anderson and Nick Kelsey each had 10. Ben Melvin finished with 16 points for the Buins as they dropped to 6-16, 2-11 NWC.
George Fox held a four-point advantage late in the first half, using Aaron Schmick’s three-pointer to go up 27-23. The Boxers tied it up 28-28 on Tufts’ jumper, then used two long jumpers by Kawazoe in the last 1:30 to hold onto a 33-30 lead at the break.
The Boxers held onto the slim advantage until Mevlin’s jumper with 10:31 left gave the Bruins a 43-41 lead. It was the least one they would have as Gram’s first three-pointer of the half put Pacific back up one and started an 8-0 run for a 49-43 edge with 8:15 left.
The Bruins cut the lead to one twice in the final four minutes, but Kelsey’s three-pointer with 1:09 left all but sealed the deal. Anderson put an exclamation point on the night with a fastbreak dunk with 24 seconds left that got the crowd off of its feet.
Pacific plays host to the eastern Washington schools next weekend, facing Whitworth on Friday and Whitman on Saturday.