WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Senior David Michaels scorched the nets for a career-high 31 points to power Whitman College past Chapman 77-64 in Saturday's neutral-court battle between NCAA Division III West Region teams at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Calif.

Michaels, a 6-foot-7 forward, made 13 of 17 shots from the floor -- including three of four attempts from the 3-point stripe -- while snaring five rebounds and blocking a shot at the defensive end.

Michaels

Whitman, now 2-1 on the season, never trailed after senior Brandon Shaw opened the scoring with a layup and junior Drew Raher followed with a 3-pointer for an early 5-0 Missionary lead.

Chapman, which made the DIII national tournament in each of the past two years, slipped to 2-1 on the season.

After Whitman's opening salvo, Michaels hit his first 3-pointer of the day and senior D.J. Wright struck again from long distance to stretch Whitman's lead to 14-5 with just five minutes off the first-half clock.

Clark

Whitman started pulling away a few minutes later with Michaels doing most of the tugging. After completing a 3-point in the paint, Michaels again scored inside and then threw down a dunk to give the Missionaries a 23-7 advantage with 11 minutes still left in the half.

Whitman extended its lead to 18 points on three different occasions, the last time at 35-17 when junior Peter Clark hit a layup with 5:57 remaining. Chapman rallied a bit in the closing minutes of the half, trimming its deficit to 37-23 by halftime.

The Panthers scratched closer when Brandon Lin nailed a 3-pointer to open the second-half scoring.

But Chapman's hopes for a comeback soon waned as Michaels outscored the Panthers 10-2 over the next few minutes. Wrapping a pair of 3-pointers around two layups, Michaels vaulted the Missionaries back into a 19-point cushion at 47-28.

Whitman three times pushed its lead to 21 points, the last time when Michaels finished off his second three-point play in the paint.

Shaw

With Whitman up 57-36 and 12 minutes remaining, Chapman made another surge when Jordan Young hit a pair of threes and tallied seven quick points.

Michaels twice scored inside to help hold the line, but two Young free throws at the 5:54 mark had Chapman within 65-53 on the scoreboard.

Sophomore Ryan Gilkey and Michaels went to the hoop for two more buckets, making it a 69-53 game, and Raher's three with 2:50 left gave Whitman a comfortable 72-55 lead.

Chapman finished the game on a 9-5 run to narrow the final margin.

Thompson

Shaw finished with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists, and sophomore LuQuam Thompson combined seven points with six assists, three steals and three rebounds. Clark and Raher both hit a pair of 3-pointers while scoring nine and seven points, respectively.

As a team, Whitman hit eight of 16 attempts from the 3-point line while shooting 56.9 per cent (29 of 51) from the floor overall. The Missionaries out-rebounded the Panthers 30-29.

Ben Richard with 23 points and eight rebounds paced Chapman. Lin had 12 points for the Panthers.

Friday's game was the first meeting between Whitman and Chapman since Dec. 4, 2008, when the Missionaries outscored the Panthers 80-71 in a tournament setting in Redlands, Calif.

Shaw, a freshman at the time, had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in that game. Michaels scored two points but played limited minutes due to foul trouble.

Whitman returns to the Diablo Valley gym at noon Saturday to play Cal Lutheran, which lost 67-53 to Whitworth earlier today in the same gym.

Cal Lutheran was down by just one point with seven minutes left in that game, but Whitworth finished on an 18-5 run to win going away.

Chapman and Whitworth square off at 10 a.m. Saturday.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu