The University of La Verne improved to 5-4 on the season after a rolling to a 66-40 win over George Fox University in men's basketball action Wednesday night at Frantz Athletic Court.
The Leopard defense held the visiting Bruins to 26.2% shooting from the field. In addition, the Leos outrebounded GFU by a 50-37 margin.
La Verne never trailed in the contest and raced out to an early 14-5 advantage in the first six minutes. A jumper from Trevor Woodland with 8:46 remaining gave the Leos their largest lead of the first half at 22-9 en route to a 28-18 halftime advantage.
The Bruins opened the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 28-24 with 18:11 left. A three-point basket from Mike Taylor again pulled George Fox to within four at 33-29, but the squad would not get closer.
La Verne would embark on a decisive 20-3 run over the next 7:22 to push their cushion to 21 points at 53-32 with 8:39 left to play. The Leopards would hold the Bruins to a single field goal during that span.
The cold shooting would continue for George Fox as they were held scoreless during the final 4:32 of the game. All told, the Bruins went 16-61 from the field including a 1-17 effort from three-point range.
Though the Leopards struggled at times on offense, they managed a 42.4% field goal percentage (25-59) along with a 35.7% performance (5-14) from beyond the arc.
Woodland paced the Leopards with a game-high 18 points, connecting on 4-5 shooting from three-point range. Alex Wolpe tallied 9 points while point guard John Leggett collected 8 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds.
Cole Whitehurst scored a team-high 14 points for George Fox, which dropped to 3-7 overall.
The Leopards return to action tomorrow to host unbeaten Marietta University (11-0) at Frantz Athletic Court. Tip-off is 7:30 pm.
