Walla Walla, Wash. – The Missionaries broke open a tight game in the first half by scorching the net from beyond the arc (73 %) and never let Pacific University back in the game on their way to a 101 – 68 victory tonight at George Ball Court. It is the eighth time Whitman has surpassed the 100-point mark this season.
The win moves the Missionaries into a three-way tie for second place in conference with George Fox and Lewis & Clark at 7 – 4. L & C comes to town Saturday night for an 8 pm tip-off at the Sherwood Athletic Center. George Fox is at home against Linfield. For complete NWC standings click Standings.
Whitman sophomore forward Matt Mounier (Encino, CA) led the way in scoring for the third straight game with 17 -- 3-of-6 from three-point land. He got long distance help from senior forward Ignas Pavilonis (Silute, Lithuania) who hit two treys in tallying 12 points, and Jackson Clough (Fr, Seattle, WA), Josh Duckworth (Jr, Los Angeles, CA), and Dominic Lippi (Fr, Alameda, CA) who all connected twice from beyond the arc. The Whits ended the game with a three-point success rate of 56.5 %.
Sophomore forward Keenan Durham (Seattle, WA) came off the bench to score 10 points (4-of-5 from the floor), as did starters Duckworth and Ben Eisenhardt (Jr, Bainbridge Island, WA).
Whitman's press forced the Boxers into 25 turnovers and produced 16 steals, while the Missionaries only committed 10 turnovers for the game.
Pacific battled the Whits in the early going, taking a 14 – 10 lead on a Daniel Zatani layup with just less than eight minutes played in the opening half. The Missionaries tied the game, though, at 14 - 14 on a Duckworth trey and then, took the lead 18 – 17 on and Eisenhardt layup with 10:49 left in the half.
Whitman pushed the lead to double-digits when forward Ryan Gilkey (Jr, Woodinville, WA) put in a follow-up to make it 27 – 18 at the 9:07 mark. Then, the three-ball party began as Mounier, Clough and Pavilonis all hit three-balls within a three-minute span to stretch the margin to 38 – 20 with 5:45 remaining in the opening stanza. The halftime score was 54 – 27.
In the second half the Boxers never got closer than twenty-three and the Whits saw their lead grow to as big as thirty-eight, at 93 – 55. Pacific never stopped battling, though, and got a nice performance from forward Marc Eppinger who entered the game in the second half and scored 11 points in just seven minutes. Forward Charles Mosley topped the Boxers in scoring with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-of-2 from the line.
Pacific drops to 5 – 5 in the NWC and 11 – 8 overall, and, now, heads to Spokane to face No. 3 ranked Whitworth Saturday night. The Missionaries overall record is now 13 – 7 as they await the Pioneers.
Contact:
Andrew Holt
Whitman Sports Information Director
509.527.5902