Spokane, WA (January 8, 2013) – The Missionaries gave No. 5 ranked Whitworth all it could handle, taking the Pirates into double-overtime on the road tonight, before running out of gas in the second extra period, falling 112 – 100 at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
Ryan Gilkey, Jr.
The Loss puts the Missionaries at 3 – 2 in conference, percentage points behind second place George Fox and Willamette who were idle tonight. Whitman's overall mark is 9 – 5. Whitworth moves to 5 – 0 in the NWC, sole proprietors of first place, and 13 – 1 on the year.
Whitman fell behind early in the first half, trailing by as many as seven when George Valle made a layup to give Whitworth a 22 – 15 advantage with seven minutes off the clock. But the Missionaries fought back and took the lead on aRyan Gilkey (Jr, Woodinville,WA) put-back at the 10-minute mark. Whitman stretched the margin to 10 before Valle hit a layup at the buzzer, giving the Missionaries a 45 – 37 halftime lead.
Through the first eight minutes of the second half, Whitman held onto its lead, but the Pirates whittled it down and finally caught the Missionaries at 60 – 60 on two Robby Douglas free-throws at the 11:30 mark. The teams went back-and-forth the remainder of regulation with Whitman's Ben Eisenardt (Jr, Bainbridge Island, WA) giving the Missionaries an 80 – 78 lead with :44 remaining when he followed up his own miss. Wade Gebbers responded with two free-throws to tie the game again with :22 left. Having two fouls to give, Whitworth decided to play straight-up defense and it paid off as it forced Whitman into an off-balanced shot that was off the mark as time ran out.
Ignas Pavilonis, Sr.
In the first overtime, the Bucs jumped out to a quick 85 – 80 lead on a Gebbers trey and two free-throws by Colton McCarger. With 2:42 left Whitworth held an 87 – 81 advantage but the Missionaries held the Pirates to just two Gebbers free-throws the rest of the way, cutting the lead to one on a Josh Duckworth (Jr, Los Angeles, CA) fall-away jumper with 1:17. After Gebbers missed a trey attempt, the Missionaries came down and with one-second left on the shot clock, Dominic Lippi (Fr, Alameda, CA) was fouled while trying a baseline jumper. Lippi made the first free-throw but the second bounced off the iron. After a timeout, Gebbers was wayward on a 30-foot off-balanced chuck as the buzzer sounded and the score tied at 89.
In the second OT, Whitworth, again, got off to a fast start, taking a 97 – 91 lead on consecutive Josh McConnell and Gebbers treys. This time, the Missionaries could not claw back. Gebbers and McConnell combined for another four points a few moments later to make it a 101 – 92 advantage and Whitman would get no closer than seven at 104 – 97.
Matt Mounier (So, Encino, CA), Gilkey and Eisenhardt each scored 17 for the Missionaries – Mounier and Gilkey doing most of their damage in the first half. Duckworth added 15 and Ignas Pavilonis (Sr, Silute, Lithuania) came off the bench for 14.
For the Pirates, McConnell had a game-high 24, Gebbers 22 and McCarger 18.
Both teams shot the ball extremely well. Whitman hit 52.5 % of its shots, Whitworth 59.4 %.
The Missionaries continue their road travels as they play at George Fox this Saturday, completing a 4-game road stint over an 8-day period. Tip is at 8 pm.