An early-morning windstorm swept through the Puget Sound area Friday, downing trees and power lines and cutting off power to a large swath of Tacoma that included the PLU campus. As a result, the George Fox-PLU games were finally relocated to the TCC campus.
George Fox found the new digs to its liking, scorching the nets in the first half for 63.0% (17-27) to 52.0% (13-25) for Pacific Lutheran. That enabled the Bruins to take a 13-point advantage into the break, 55-42. The Lutes held the hot hand in the second half, making 17-29 for 58.6% while the Bruins managed “only” 46.4% (13-28), thus enabling the Lutes to make it a tight game down to the end.
Final totals showed the Lutes making 55.6% (30-54) while the Bruins were close at 54.5% (30-55). George Fox held the edge on three-pointers, however, making 60.0% (12-20) to 45.5% (10-22) for PLU, and also on free throws, sinking 87.5% (21-24) to 84.6% (22-27) for the Lutes. The rebounds were dead even at 27 apiece, as were the turnovers with 12 by each.
Aaron Schmick led a quintet of Bruins in double figures with 22 points, followed by Scott Szalay with 17, Phil Heu-Weller with 16, Brent Satern 14, and Ben Melvin 11. Szalay had a game-high 9 rebounds, while Satern, Szalay, and Melvin had 4 assists apiece.
The Lutes’ Josh Vanlandingham led all scorers with 27 points, while Drew Cardwell added 16 and Scott Lowery 11. Lowery also had a team-high 5 rebounds, and Vanlandingham and Andrew Mehalechko had 4 assists each.
With its 4th straight win, George Fox is now 16-8 overall and 9-6 in the conference, while Pacific Lutheran slips to 5-19 overall and 4-11 in the league.
Both teams end the regular season Saturday, the Bruins hosting Willamette University and the Lutes entertaining Lewis & Clark College. Tip-off is 8 p.m. following women’s NWC games at 6 p.m. The Bruins will be out to snap a 10-game losing streak to the Bearcats and deny them a share of the NWC title; Willamette lost at Puget Sound Friday in a first-place showdown and fell one game back. The contest will also mark the 1,000th men’s game witnessed and worked by long-time George Fox statistician Mike “Biggs’ Wirta.