Dec. 5, 2009

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific men's basketball took care of their home court on Saturday, December 5, as they took down the visiting Wolf Pack of Nevada, 61-58, in front of 2,801 fans at the Alex G. Spanos Center. The win for the Tigers' improved their record to 6-1 overall while the Wolf Pack fell to 2-4.

Senior Joe Ford (Altadena, Calif.) preserved Pacific's victory over the Wolf Pack with one of his three blocks on the night, blocking Armon Johnson's game-tying attempt from beyond the arc as time expired.

The Tigers fell behind 17-10 midway through the first half, before getting a pair of free throws from senior Lavar Neufville (Fairfield, Calif.) and a three-pointer from junior Terrell Smith (Federal Way, Wash.) to make it 17-15 with 9:44 to play in the first half. After Nevada pulled back ahead by six (21-15), Smith scored four more points in a 11-2 Tiger run to take a 26-23 with 2:45 remaining. Nevada regained the lead at 28-27 on a jumper by Luke Babbit before the Tigers took back the lead at 29-28 on a 15-footer by junior Sam Willard (Pierre, S.D.). The Wolf Pack took the lead back at the end of the first half on a three-pointer by Armon Johnson to give Nevada a 31-29.

Strong Tiger defense keyed a 15-4 run to give Pacific its largest lead of the game (44-35) with 13:26 left in the game. Junior Demetrece Young (Oklahoma City, Okla.) scored five points and had three assists in the run. The Wolf Pack fought right back, using a 7-0 run in the next two minutes and cut the Tiger lead to 44-42. Pacific took the lead back up to five (47-42) after a three-point play by Ford. Nevada answered with a 10-2 run to take a 52-49 lead with 8:34 to play after a three-pointer by Brandon Fields. The teams traded the lead a couple of more times, before the Wolf Pack took a 58-55 lead on a Babbit jumper. After a missed jumper by Babbit a minute later, Young took the long rebound and nailed a three-pointer in transition to even the game at 58-58 with 1:47 to play. After a miss on the Nevada end, Ford found Willard open underneath for a layup to give the Tigers a 60-58 lead with one minute to play. After another Nevada miss, Smith made one of two free throws to give the Tigers a 61-58 lead and set up Ford's heroics. The Tigers held Nevada scoreless over the final 2:42 of the game.

Willard led the Tigers with a career-high 19 points, while Young added 10 points. The Tigers shot a season-low 36.8 percent from the field, but hit a season-best 82.4 percent from the free throw line. Johnson led Nevada with 18 points.

The Tigers are next in action with a home game against Cal on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m in Pacific's first ever game at Stockton Arena.