Young rediscovers shot as Pirates topple Boxers
The Pacific Boxers came into Whitworth’s Fieldhouse on Saturday night saddled with a six-game losing streak. Fifteen minutes into the opening half, it was obvious that streak was going to reach seven.
Riding the long-range shooting of Jon Young and an efficient defense, the Pirates broke out to a 22-point first-half lead en route to an 86-73 Northwest Conference men’s basketball victory before 585 fans.
Young, who had been struggling with his shooting, hit his first three 3-pointers before ending the opening half with 13 points. The 6-foot-3 junior shooting guard finished with a team-high 18 points, as all five Pirates starters scored in double figures.
“I had a talk with coach (Jim) Hayford and (assistant) coach (Rodney) Wecker and told them I didn’t feel quite right, and asked what they saw,” Young said of his success Saturday. “They said it looked like I wasn’t looking to catch and shoot. I was looking to catch and pass or dribble. I had to get back to my game.”
That game is shooting, as, despite the recent slump, he’s still hitting more than 42 percent of his 3-point attempts. It’s a strong point for most of the Pirates, who shoot 49 percent from the floor as a team, which also was their Saturday percentage.
Lance Pecht played well after halftime and finished with 17 points. Kevin Hasenfus (15), Bryan Williams (12) and George Tucker (10) also reached double figures for the Pirates, winners of four consecutive in the series with the visitors from Oregon. The win raised Whitworth’s overall mark to 11-6, 5-3.
The defense was at its best against the Boxers’ leading scorer, Brandon Kawazoe. The senior shooting guard, averaging 14.9 coming in, finished with a garbage-time-padded 18, but had just five in the decisive opening half – on 1-of-8 shooting.
But Kawazoe wasn’t the only Boxer to struggle before halftime. They shot 26 percent as a team, including an anemic 15 percent beyond the arc. Pacific (6-10 overall, 1-7 and last in the NWC) improved to 41 percent from the floor overall, but still never got closer than 11 points.
A big part of that was Pecht, who had more fouls (three) than points (two) at the half. But the 6-4 senior from West Valley scored Whitworth’s first nine points of the second half and hit 6 of 7 attempts after intermission.
Kyle Motta, a 6-3 forward, paced the Boxers with a season-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting.
With the Pirates never threatened after halftime, the game devolved into a whistle-fest with 50 fouls called and 63 free throws attempted.
“Our team needs to learn how to win all types of games,” Hayford said of the stilted second-half play. “Tonight wasn’t the prettiest game, but I’ll take it. In that vein, I wasn’t the best-looking guy, but my wife took me, so I understand the concept.”
•Joel Ryman led five Sasquatch in double figures with 19 points and added five steals as Community Colleges of Spokane beat Blue Mountain (7-10, 0-4) 82-68 in Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges action at Spokane CC.
Ben Mitchell had 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for CCS (15-3, 4-0), while Jeremy Mangum had 12 points and eight assists, Humberto Perez totaled 10 points and eight assists for CCS and Peter Leyk added 10 points.
•Mac Hopson had 18 points, four rebounds and five assists as North Idaho avenged Friday’s defeat to Salt Lake by beating the Bruins 62-60 at Salt Lake City.
The Cardinals (16-3, 6-2), who also got 13 points from Keelan Donald, forced Salt Lake into 14 turnovers. Gary Wilkinson of SLCC (14-4, 5-3) totaled 20 points and 11 rebounds.