March 10, 2006

Box Score

Anaheim, Calif. - The Pacific Tigers men's basketball team advanced to their third consecutive Big West Tournament Final with a 68-57 win over Cal Poly on Friday, Mar. 10.

With the win, the Tigers moved to 23-7 on the season, while Cal Poly finished its season at 10-19.

Tied at 55-55 with just over 3:30 remaining in the game, the Tigers closed the game on a 13-2 run to earn a berth in the Big West Tournament Finals.

Senior Christian Maraker (Varberg, Sweden) sank two free throws to push the Tigers back out in front 57-55. Following a defensive stop, Pacific got two more free throws from senior Johnny Gray (Agoura Hill, Calif.) to make it a 59-55 game.

Following another defensive stop, Pacific senior Mike Webb (Lancaster, Calif.) nailed his first three point shot of the night to make it a 62-55 game with 1:25 remaining in the contest. The Tigers would go on to add six more points on free throws by Gray, Webb and Maraker to cement the victory.

Gray led Pacific with 18 points in the game, while Maraker had 12 points, Webb finished with 11 points and junior Michael White (Capitola, Calif.) had 10 points.

Cal Poly's Titus Shelton led all scorers with 19 points.

"First of all, I'd like to commend Cal Poly," said Pacific head coach Bob Thomason. "I thought that not only did they play well, they competed really physically in the game. They made tough shots, put all the pressure they could on us - in fact a little more than we would have liked - and put themselves in a position to win the game and our guys, the last three minutes, played perfect basketball."

The Tigers return to the court on Saturday, Mar. 11 at 9 p.m. (PST) as the Tigers will play Long Beach State, who defeated UC Irvine 75-73 on Friday night. The game will be televised live on ESPN.