By Ben Zimmerman
WALLA WALLA, Wash. Linfield was playing for its season. Whitman's leading scorer had just picked up his fourth personal foul, cancelling an 'and-1.' The greatest Blues' scorer of the modern era -- the only Whitman senior -- was lying on his back at center court, immobilized for the moment, while the Wildcats raced to the other end of the floor for a dunk.
Junior Jack Stewart pulled his teammates together as Whitman trainers tended to senior Tim Howell, and a Northwest Conference men's basketball tournament semifinal on Thursday at Sherwood Athletic Center hung in the balance.
"We get in tight huddles," said first-year Darné Duckett. "Jack grabbed us together and said, 'Let's go.'
"We said, 'Let's get it'. We knew it was our time to turn up."
"We saw Tim go down," added sophomore Trevor Osborne, "and we knew we just had to dig in even more."
Sure enough, parachute a witness into any juncture in the 15 minutes, 41 seconds which followed one of this season's scariest and most fraught moments, and hear tales: of a defensive effort that was terrifying and beautiful in its zealotry, of role players becoming unstoppable scorers, of a 12-0 run paved across six consecutive forced turnovers, of Howell's triumphant and healthy return to orchestrate the closing blows.
"Our resilience makes us what we are," said junior Austin Butler, who dished 11 assists in what became an 87-76 victory for the top-ranked Blues. "We've faced a lot of adversity. With Joey (Hewitt) out, and Tim out, that sense of urgency came forward. Everyone had to step up, and we're deep enough to do that."
Whitman (26-0) advanced to a conference tournament championship-game showdown against rival Whitworth. The fourth-ranked Pirates, who handled the University of Puget Sound 97-79 in Spokane on Thursday, will return to Sherwood at 7 p.m. on Saturday for a rematch of the 2017 title bout.
The Wildcats (16-9) never surrendered on Thursday -- "They're slept on; a great team that is big, lengthy, well-coached, that adapts," Osborne said -- but they never fully recovered from the separation created in the wake of Howell's injury, which he confirmed was painful but superficial. The closest Linfield would get after the 12-0 run made it 70-55 at the 7:56 mark was six points.
Stewart's 3-pointer -- his only basket of the game, and as a big a bucket as any he's splashed this year -- put Whitman ahead 78-69 with 3:18 left.
And after the 'Cats' Tyler Watts, an 11-point, 11-rebound beast on Thursday, hit a 3 to cut the lead to six again, Osborne caught a feed from Howell, who had dribbled away most of the shot clock, and swished a deep 3 to make it 84-74 just inside the final minute.
Those finishing touches were a lower-key coda to the turning-point run that put a back-and-forth game on pause and let the Blues feast. The dunk, arranged after Linfield emerged from a midcourt scrum (that resulted in Howell's knee-scrape) with a loose ball, cut Whitman's lead to 46-42 with 15:41 to play. The Blues hadn't scored in over two minutes.
Colton, a 6-foot-5, 214-pound power forward, translated the message from Stewart's huddle-chat into a stone-faced, baseline 3-pointer -- his first make from deep this season. Liam O'Reilly answered with a basket for Linfield.
Duckett keeled through the paint and scored on a left-handed floater. O'Reilly scored again.
Colton hit a free throw, then Butler. It was a five-point Whitman lead when Duckett pulled up after a crossover and ripped a 3 from about 29 feet.
What's the outer limit on his range?
"However far out I catch it," Duckett said.
Then Osborne blocked a shot. Howell checked back in, and scored on a put-back after a Wildcat trey, and answered another Linfield basket with a teardrop in the lane.
That started the 12-0 run. Osborne had steals to spoil consecutive Wildcat possessions, the second leading to another Duckett 3-pointer. Butler assisted a Colton layup and a Howell 3.
Colton's basket at the 7:56 mark capped the run.
"Linfield did a good job of trapping and packing it in to cut off our penetration," said Duckett, who had 12 points and three assists. "We worked on making the extra pass to get the defense shifting. We kept probing gaps, finding shooters, dumping off to our relocated bigs."
Whitman opened the game on an 8-0 run, but Linfield matched it to forge a tie and cast the dye for a call-and-response first half. The Blues led 36-28 on a Hewitt 3-pointer with 3:36 left, but -- ominously -- Hewitt was whistled for this third personal on the Wildcats' ensuing trip, and Linfield proceeded to close the half on an 8-2 spurt.
The opening half was physical, possessions ferociously contested, second chances precious. Linfield won the glass 25-17 and had seven offensive rebounds. Stewart had four steals and Butler two as Whitman's pressure squeezed free 13 turnovers.
Foul trouble limited Hewitt to just nine minutes, but his outside touch (he hit three of six 3-pointers) was vital in keeping the Blues ahead. The paint was an alley brawl. Whitman's 38-36 halftime advantage stitched together timely outside shooting and a passable 9-for-13 clip at the free throw line.
Linfield's Dempsey Roggenbuck led all scorers with a career-high 31 points.
Howell finished with a team-high 23 points. Hewitt had 12 points and Colton 10 for Whitman.
Stewart had seven steals, and Butler and Osborne two apiece, as the Blues forced 30 turnovers. Butler also had two blocked shots.
"Having this game now helps prepare us for the rest of the playoffs," Butler said.