Geoducks Beat Linfield For First Win of Season
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Dustin Meade tallied game highs of 23 points and nine rebounds on Saturday night to lead The Evergreen State College to its first men's basketball victory of the season, a 65-55 non-conference decision over the visiting Linfield Wildcats inside Costantino Recreation Center.
The Geoducks (1-8) scored nine unanswered points to turn a 44-43 deficit into a 52-44 lead with 6:12 to play. Pat Ling started the run with a steal and breakaway layin, and after four consecutive Meade free throws following a pair of Linfield technical fouls, Meade drilled a three-pointer just before the shot clock expired.
Linfield was able to cut its deficit to 55-52 with 2:41 to play on successive three-point baskets by Riley Bruil, but the Geoducks held their lead by shooting 7-for-8 from the foul line down the stretch.
The win, said Evergreen head coach Tim Malroy, was down to a strong second half performance. "The adjustments on defense really helped, and we took care of the ball better. We only had two turnovers in the second half," he said.
Linfield's strategy was to shut down Evergreen's two big men, 6-10 Shawn Spencer and 6-9 Jaurence Chisholm, but the Geoducks got the ball to them often enough that Spencer finished with 18 points and Chisholm with 12. Both players had three offensive rebounds as 18 of Evergreen's 43 total rebounds were on that end of the floor. The Geoducks, in fact, dominated the glass, 43-28.
Meade, who on Wednesday night struggled from the field in Evergreen's eight-point overtime loss at Lewis & Clark, was 6-for-13 overall in addition to knocking down all eight of his free throws.
"I had a lot of confidence in him," Malroy said. "He played for 40 minutes and I knew he would bounce back."
Evergreen shot just 36 percent from the field (21-for-58) and 29 percent from beyond the three-point line (5-for-17), but outscored the visitors 18-4 at the free throw line. Linfield was just 4-for-10 at the charity stripe. Fouls were nearly even with Evergreen committing 11 and Linfield 13.
???????Bruil was 6-for-9 from beyond the three-point line to lead the Wildcats with 20 points and he was the leading rebounder with five. Linfield shot 43 percent overall (20-for-47) and 42 percent from beyond the arc (11-for-26).
Evergreen returns to action next Friday when the Oregon Tech Owls come to CRC Gym for a Cascade Collegiate Conference game.