SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University claimed its 14th Northwest Conference men's basketball tournament championship with a resounding 85-59 victory over Whitman College on Saturday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The Pirates (22-4) earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, which will be Whitworth's 15th appearance in that event. The field will be announced at 9:30 am on Monday morning.
Whitman finishes the season 12-14 after upsetting Linfield to reach its fifth straight NWC tournament final.
The Pirates, playing in their 18th consecutive NWC tournament championship game, used superior strength and size to dominate the inside. Whitworth scored 62 points in the paint.
The Pirates jumped to a 10-4 lead on Liam Fitzgerald's put back dunk. But the Blues hung tough in the first half. Trailing 16-10, Whitman used a 10-2 run to take a 20-18 lead on Xzavier Lino's jumper. Nikola Trifunovic and Alex Pape hit three pointers to spark the spurt. Whitworth answered with a 12-0 run, including eight points by JT McDermott, to open its first double-digit lead of the game. After the Blues pulled back within 36-31 on a Pape layup, the Bucs led 43-34 at the break following McDermott's basket right before the buzzer.
Whitworth made 63% of its shots in the first half and scored 36 points in the paint. McDermott had 16 of the team's points. The Blues were able to hang close by making 50% from the field, including 4-8 from three-point range.
Whitman got within 45-40 two minutes into the second half. That was as close as the Blues would get as the Pirates rolled to a 19-0 run to open a 64-40 lead on Garrett Paxton's three-pointer with 12 minutes to play. Jake Holtz tormented Whitman throughout the run with hustle rebounds and eight points. The Blues had one more push, getting back to within 64-49 on a basket by Jai Deshpande, but they could get no closer as McDermott ended the run with another bucket. Miguel Lopez drove for a layup to re-establish a 20-point margin (72-51) with seven minutes left and the Pirates cruised to victory from there.
The 26-point margin is the largest in a Northwest Conference tournament final since Whitworth defeated Puget Sound 96-69 in 2008.
McDermott finished with a game-high 23 points, making 10-12 shots from the floor. Lopez added 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Whitworth to a 41-19 domination of the boards. Holtz finished with 20 points off the bench. The Pirates ended the game 34-57 (59.6%) from the floor, despite making only 2-13 from three-point range.
Walter Lum led Whitman with 18 points and six assists. Lino added 11 and Trifunovic finished with 10. After shooting 50% in the first half, Whitman shot only 38% (11-29) after halftime.