Box Score STOCKTON, Calif. – Back at home to open a four game homestand, the Pacific men's basketball team survived a tough shooting performance and a pair of late fouls in regulation to defeat the Montana State Bobcats on Wednesday afternoon at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
In the teams' first meeting in exactly 35 years, Pacific got a career-high 19 points from senior
Broc Finstuen, who fell one rebound shy of a double-double, 27 second chance points and a late put-back from sophomore
Jonathan Salazar to seal a 74-70 victory and improve to 2-1 on the season.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- After trading baskets through the first four minutes of the game, Pacific capped a 10-0 scoring run at the 13:04 mark on a bucket by grad transfer Jordan Bell to take a 15-9 lead.
- Later in the first half, the Bobcats would take a 25-23 lead on a jumper by Xavier Bishop with 4:14 remaining in the half. Beginning with a Finstuen three-pointer with 3:21 remaining in the half, the Tigers ended the period on a 7-4 run to go into the locker room with a 30-29 advantage.
- The teams stayed in-step with one another for the majority of the second half. It wasn't until there were less than three minutes remaining that the Tigers opened up a seven-point lead, their largest of the contest, as sophomore Daniss Jenkins made a free throw to extend Pacific's advantage, 61-54.
- Montana State, however, would finish the last 96 seconds of regulation on a 10-3 run, forcing the Tigers into an overtime period for the first time since their thrilling four-overtime victory over Saint Mary's on Jan. 4.
- In overtime, Amin Adamu gave the Bobcats a 67-66 lead with a made three-pointer with 3:17 remaining. Quickly thereafter, the Tigers responded and would finish the overtime period on an 8-3 run, beginning with a trip to the line for Finstuen with 1:45 remaining on the clock.
- After freshman Tyler Patterson sank a three for the Bobcats to draw Montana State to within two at 72-70, the Tigers worked the clock down to six seconds on the offensive end of the floor when Jenkins missed a layup off an inbound pass. Salazar, however, followed immediately behind to clean up the miss and lay it back home, giving Pacific a 74-70 lead and ultimately sealing the Tigers sixth straight victory at the Spanos Center.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
- For Pacific, it marked the second straight contest in which Finstuen (19), Jenkins (17) and senior Jeremiah Bailey all scored in double figures (10).
- While Finstuen was just one rebound shy of his first career double-double for the second consecutive game, Bailey notched the second double-double of his career (10 points, 10 rebounds) and the first since a 22-point, 11-rebound performance in the WCC Tournament on March, 7. 2019 against Pepperdine.
- Despite shooting just 34.3 percent overall from the floor, the Tigers dominated in several other statistical categories as a team: bench points (24-11), points in the paint (30-24), and points off turnovers (14-5).
UP NEXT:
In the second game of a four game homestand, Pacific will welcome the Westmont College Warriors from the NAIA to the Spanos Center this Friday, Dec. 4. Tip-off is set for 2:00 pm. Live stream, live stats and radio links will be available via pacifictigers.com.
FOLLOW US:
For more updates and more information on the 2020-21 Pacific men's basketball team, be sure to follow @PacificMensBB on Twitter, @pacificmensbb on Instagram and @PacificMensBB on Facebook.
