by Vince Ghiringhelli, UPS Sports Info
TACOMA, Wash. - A night after dropping a contest due to poor
shooting against the Whitworth Pirates, the Puget Sound Loggers
turned in their best performance of the year against ex-Logger head
coach Eric Bridgeland's Whitman Missionaries, winning 88-66 in a
Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Saturday afternoon at
Memorial Fieldhouse in Tacoma, Wash.
The Loggers came out on fire, opening up a double digit lead
less than five minutes in to the game. Led by nine first half
points on perfect shooting from senior Colin Koach (Portland,
Ore./Franklin), the Loggers went in to halftime up 47-32.
The second half looked much like the first with Puget Sound
steadily building their lead as time went on. The Loggers shot 66.7
percent from the field in the half and led by as much as 30 points
before finally coasting to a victory.
The young Missionaries fought hard and played scrappy throughout
the game but shot only 33.6 percent from the field on the night to
the Loggers 59.2. Brandon Shaw led Whitman with 23 points and five
rebounds, but was the only player to score in double digits for his
team.
The Loggers shot well enough to make up for their 24 turnovers
in the contest, with Koach headlining the game with a perfect
shooting night. He finished with 18 points followed by 17 off the
bench for sophomore Kaleb Shelton (Tacoma, Wash./Lincoln.).
Sophomore Nadav Heyman (Corvallis, Ore./Corvallis) scored 13 and
dished out six assists and senior Bryce Levin (Everett,
Wash./Everett) added 11 points.
Puget Sound hits the road next week, heading down to Forest
Grove, Ore. to take on Pacific University on Friday, Jan. 22 and
then to Portland to meet Lewis and Clark College on Saturday, Jan
23. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. both nights.
