Nov. 8, 2008

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - Behind a strong effort from senior Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.), the Pacific men's basketball team held on for a 52-46 victory over Chico State on Saturday, November 8. The Tigers closed out exhibition play a perfect 2-0 as they head into the regular season, beginning with a road contest at Cal on Saturday, November 15.

The contest started off with a strong Pacific run out of the gate. Junior Joe Ford (Altadena, Calif.) buried a jumper to give the Tigers a 5-0 edge. Chico State scored moments later, then senior Chad Troyer (Seattle, Wash.) connected on a three-pointer to push the Tigers lead to 8-2, and Brown hit a shot from the paint to make it 10-2. The Tigers extended the lead to 18-7 with 12:11 left in the half after a three-pointer from junior Lavar Neufville (Fairfield, Calif.). Chico State mounted a small rally, cutting the Tiger lead to 22-13 with just over four minutes left in the half. The Tigers finished the half on a 7-1 run, as Troyer buried a three from the corner and senior Bryan LeDuc (Corona, Calif.) followed it with a steal and dunk to take a 29-14 lead at halftime.

Pacific opened the second half outscoring the Wildcats 12-6, as Brown scored four more points in the run to give the Tigers their biggest lead of the game at 41-20 with 14:10 left in the game. Chico State then slowly but surely got back into the game with a quick 5-0 spurt over the next two minutes to make it 41-25 with 12:14 remaining. Sophomore Terrell Smith (Federal Way, Wash.) hit a pair of free throws to extend the Tigers' lead to 43-25 two minutes later. Pacific would not score again for the next six minutes, as Chico State again cut into the lead, this time using a 13-0 run to the lead to just 43-38 with 5:53 remaining after a layup by Andy Bocian. Two minutes later, Bocian hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 45-42 with 3:56 left in the game. Brown hit a pair of critical free throws to take the lead back to five. After Chris Sharp hit a couple of free throws, Brown went to the line one more time, and hit one of two to make it 48-44 with 2:02 left. Neither team could score over the next 1:30, until Bocian missed a three-point attempt and the Wildcats fouled LeDuc pulling down the rebound. He hit both shots from the line to give Pacific a 50-44 lead. A quick basket and foul from Chico State put Neufville on the line to take the lead back to six and seal the victory.

Pacific was led by Brown who totaled a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds in the contest. Troyer had 11 points while Smith added nine points and eight boards. Pacific shot 31.9% from the field, including a 1-11 stretch in the final 14 minutes of the game.

Chico State was led by Zach Graves who had 13 points on the night. Chico State shot 32.6% from the floor.