Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- With a hand in his face, sophomore Josh Duckworth elevated from just outside the 3-point stripe and hit nothing but net to lift Whitman College to a thrilling 82-80 Northwest Conference basketball victory over Lewis & Clark Saturday night in Sherwood Center.

With Whitman trailing 78-73 with less that two minutes left, Duckworth triggered the comeback when he scored on a drive to the hoop, was fouled and added the free throw.

Lewis & Clark's Ross Erickson countered with two free throws at the other end to grow the Pioneer lead back to four points at 80-76.

Duckworth

After Duckworth made one of two free throws with a minute left, Lewis & Clark missed on its next trip down the floor.

Senior Brandon Shaw then drew a foul and hit twice from the free throw line, trimming Whitman's gap to 80-79.

Lewis & Clark turned the ball over on its next possession, setting the stage for a game-winning shot that Duckworth launched from several feet to the left of the center court area (see video clip below).

Duckworth finished with 17 points while senior David Michaels had 18 before fouling out with over four minutes left to play.

Raher

Whitman, now 1-1 in the NWC and 4-2 overall, also got 13 points and four assists from Shaw and 12 points and eight rebounds from junior Drew Raher. Sophomore LuQuam Thompson just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

Lewis & Clark, slipping to 0-2 in conference and 3-4 on the season, saw four of its players score all but nine of its points.

Erickson led the Pioneers with 21 points while James Hollins had 20 points, five rebounds and four assists. PJ Taylor and Marcus Wells added 15 points apiece.

Whitman trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half and was down 40-35 at halftime.

Thompson

In what proved to be a topsy-turvy second half, Whitman came charging back to grab a 70-65 lead with just under six minutes left. The Pioneers countered with a 13-3 spurt to build a five-point cushion that soon gave way to a final Missionary charge.

Whitman bulled its way to a monstrous 47-22 on the backboards. The Missionaries, getting at least one rebound from 11 players, picked 19 boards off the offensive glass.

Lewis & Clark shot 50.9 percent from the floor on the night while hitting 10 of 26 3-point attempts.

Whitman made nine of 20 tries from the 3-point arc and shot 40.3 percent from the floor for the game.

Whitman returns to non-conference play on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. game against Walla Walla University in College Place.

Lewis & Clark returns home to Portland to host Warner Pacific at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

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