Bruins Stun 7th-Ranked Loggers Behind Atwater’s 27

George Fox now plays five of its final six games home, starting with Friday’s 8:00 PM clash with Willamette to kick off a weekend of Homecoming activities.

Salem-News.com Sports

TACOMA, Wash - Evan Atwater scored 27 points, including two clinching free throws with 15 seconds left, as the George Fox University Bruins pulled off the upset of the year in the Northwest Conference, stunning the 7th-ranked University of Puget Sound Loggers 78-77 in a men’s basketball game Saturday night here at Memorial Fieldhouse.

Beating the Loggers at their own game early, the Bruins opened up with an 8-0 run on two fast-break layups by Bryan O’Connell, a three-pointer by Mark Metzler and a free throw by Brent Satern for an 8-0 lead four minutes into the game. Foster got the Loggers on the board with a short jumper, but the Bruins answered with an Atwater three for an 11-2 margin, their largest of the half, and stayed in front the rest of the period by shooting .542 (15-28), including 5-8 on threes. The Loggers got within two on a trey by Weston Wood to make it 24-22 with 6:46 remaining, but Atwater hit two free throws, a three, and a jumper in the paint as the Bruins built a 37-31 lead at the half with a 13-9 run.

An 8-2 run to open the second half, with Jason Foster working inside for two baskets and hitting two free throws, lifted the Loggers to their first tie at 39-39 with 17:12 to play, and he followed that with another layup and a fast-break dunk to make it 43-39 with 16 minutes left. Another Foster stuff made it 50-44 before the Bruins went on an 8-0 run, regaining the lead 52-50 on a three from the top of the key by Satern with 12:20 to play. After Foster tied it again with two free throws, Atwater hit a jumper and four free throws, the latter two on a technical on the UPS bench, for a 58-52 Bruin lead with 9:49 to go.

A 14-7 run, capped by two Robert Krauel free throws, gave UPS a 66-65 lead with 5:12 to go, but the Bruins used a Stephen Campbell layup, a Joe Ahn free throw, and two jumpers by Satern around a Foster basket to go up 72-68 with three minutes left.

Free throws by Steffond Brown and Antwan Williams and a layup by Foster tied it 72-72 with 1:52 left, and the teams traded baskets by Atwater and Foster before the Bruins took the lead for good 76-74 on a Satern layup with 36 seconds remaining. A Krauel free throw with 28 seconds left cut it to one, but Atwater hit both ends of a one-and-one for a 78-75 Bruin lead with 15 seconds left. Williams made a quick basket, then the Loggers stole the inbounds pass and drew a foul with three ticks left. Krauel missed both free throws, however, and though they recovered the offensive rebound, the Loggers could not get off a shot before time ran out.

It was not a good night to be a first-place team in the league. Puget Sound (15-3, NWC 8-2) missed a golden opportunity to take sole possession of first place in the league when co-leader Whitworth University was stunned at home also, 82-74 by Willamette University. George Fox (6-13, NWC 2-8) picked up its first win at UPS in coach Mark Sundquist’s eight years with the Bruins.

Atwater hit 8-11 from the field, including 3-4 on threes, and 8-8 from the line in scoring his career high, while Satern chipped in with 15. Atwater also led the Bruins on the boards with six, and he and Satern passed out three assists each. The Bruins shot .565 (26-46) for the game, including .591 (13-22) in the second half, made 8-12 three-pointers, and knocked down their free throws at a .783 clip (18-23).

Foster led all scorers with 40 points, 27 in the second half, hitting 17-21 from the field, and went over the 1,000-point mark in his career. Krauel added 15 points, but made only 6-13 from the line, and Williams added 11. Krauel made it a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds, and Brown handed out three assists. The Loggers finished with a .443 shooting mark (27-61), but were only .188 (3-16) from beyond the arc and .625 (20-32) from the charity stripe.

George Fox now plays five of its final six games home, starting with Friday’s 8:00 PM clash with Willamette to kick off a weekend of Homecoming activities. Puget Sound travels across town Tuesday to play Pacific Lutheran University, also at 8:00 PM. Both games will be preceded by NWC women’s matches at 6:00 PM.

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