The Loggers’ fifth straight victory, coupled with Whitworth College’s 76-61 win at Willamette University, enabled Puget Sound to take a game-and-a-half lead in the conference over second-place Willamette. UPS improved to 17-3 overall and 11-1 in the league, while George Fox fell to 12-8 overall and 5-6 in the NWC.
It was the Bruins who came out with guns blazing to start the game, as a Ben Melvin layup and a three-pointer by Phil Heu-Weller put the home team ahead 5-0 one minute in. McVey’s layup with 17:52 on the clock got the Loggers on the board, but Heu-Weller responded with another basket for a 7-2 Bruin lead. Two free throws by McVey and a three by Chase Curtiss knotted the game 7-7 with 16:28 left, and the teams battled back and forth over the next four minutes before Weston Wood’s layup with 11:59 to go broke a 17-17 tie and gave Puget Sound a lead it would not relinquish.
Scorching the nets at a 65.5% clip (19-29) in the first half, the Loggers stretched their lead to as much as 20 in the first half with a 28-8 run that made it 45-25 with 6:19 to go. The Bruins went on a 7-1 run over the last three minutes of the half to cut the deficit to 11 at 56-45 at the break, and got within 10 at 62-52 with 16:28 left in the game on a free throw by Scott Szalay, but the Loggers never had less than a double-digit lead the rest of the game. The largest gap was 25 at 97-72 on a free throw by Jason Foster with 1:25 to play.
Heu-Weller and Aaron Schmick scored 19 points apiece to pace the Bruins, and Szalay added 16. Schmick was 10-10 from the charity stripe, extending his streak of consecutive free throws made to 48, eight short of the GFU record of 56 by Gary Chenault in 1978-79. Szalay had 7 rebounds. The Bruins connected on 56.0% (14-25) from the field in the first half, but tailed off badly to 26.7% (8-30) in the second.
In addition to McVey’s huge night, Curtiss scored 19, Ryan DeLong had 16, Josh Walker scored 11, and Antwan Williams added 10, making 8-8 from the line. The Loggers dropped off to 43.8% (7-16) shooting in the second half, but more than made up for it by hitting 26-33 free throws in the half and 35-49 for the game (the Bruins were 30-40 from the line as 63 fouls were whistled in the game).
George Fox hosts Pacific University Saturday at 8 p.m. in its Homecoming game, while Puget Sound returns to action next Friday at Whitworth College, also at 8 p.m. Both games will be preceded by NWC women’s games at 6 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Puget Sound vs George Fox
02/03/06 8:00 pm at Newberg, Oregon
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VISITORS: Puget Sound 17-3, NWC 11-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 McVey, Zack......... f 6-8 0-0 7-11 3 9 12 2 19 3 2 5 0 30
25 Curtiss, Chase...... f 5-9 3-5 6-8 0 3 3 4 19 2 1 0 2 15
52 Foster, Jason....... c 1-1 0-0 3-6 0 1 1 4 5 0 2 0 0 15
03 Antwan Williams..... g 1-4 0-0 8-8 0 3 3 3 10 1 4 0 1 32
30 Walker, Josh........ g 3-5 1-1 4-6 2 3 5 3 11 1 1 0 1 26
04 Marsh, Taylor....... 2-2 2-2 0-0 0 2 2 3 6 2 0 0 0 23
10 Walker, Jeff........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 3 2 0 1 0 0 6
11 Buehler, Vincent.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3
20 Krauel, Robert...... 3-4 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 1 6 1 0 0 0 15
22 DeLong, Ryan........ 4-8 4-4 4-6 0 0 0 2 16 1 2 0 3 20
31 Barsh, R Jay........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
32 Wood, Weston........ 1-4 0-2 1-2 0 1 1 3 3 3 0 0 0 9
33 Pinkney, James...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
Team................
Totals.............. 26-45 10-15 35-49 6 27 33 30 97 14 15 5 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-29 65.5% 2nd Half: 7-16 43.8% Game: 57.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 9-13 69.2% 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 66.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-16 56.3% 2nd Half: 26-33 78.8% Game: 71.4% 9
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HOME TEAM: George Fox 12-8, NWC 5-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 Melvin, Ben......... f 2-15 0-3 3-4 2 4 6 4 7 3 5 0 0 27
23 Heu-Weller, Phil.... f 6-11 1-2 6-8 2 4 6 5 19 1 2 0 0 28
42 Szalay, Scott....... c 6-7 0-0 4-7 4 3 7 5 16 0 1 0 1 23
05 Schmick, Aaron...... g 4-8 1-2 10-10 1 1 2 2 19 3 3 0 2 35
24 Satern, Brent....... g 1-4 0-0 2-4 0 0 0 4 4 0 4 0 0 25
03 Mansfield, Nate..... 0-2 0-2 0-1 0 3 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 21
21 Ahn, Joe............ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
25 Martin, Taylor...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
30 Wollman, McCall..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
31 Strutz, Brady....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 4 2 1 0 0 0 10
33 Parker, Chris....... 1-2 0-0 3-4 1 0 1 3 5 0 0 0 0 14
34 Noble, Matt......... 0-2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3
44 Martin, Andrew...... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
55 Metzler, Mark....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 4
Team................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 22-55 2-10 30-40 12 18 30 33 76 9 16 0 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-25 56.0% 2nd Half: 8-30 26.7% Game: 40.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 0-5 0.0% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 15-22 68.2% 2nd Half: 15-18 83.3% Game: 75.0% 4
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Officials: Monte Biscaye, Stu Gorski, Bob Rose
Technical fouls: Puget Sound-None. George Fox-Szalay, Scott.
Attendance: 1000
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Puget Sound................... 56 41 - 97
George Fox.................... 45 31 - 76