THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – When it mattered the most Whitworth found its shooting groove, handing 12th-ranked Cal Lutheran a 78-73 defeat in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament on Friday night at Gilbert Arena.
Jake Holtz scored 25 points for the Pirates, who improved to 20-8 with their first NCAA Division III tournament victory since 2020. The Kingsmen finished the season 23-5.
Whitworth will take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (22-6) in the second round on Saturday at 6:05 pm in Thousand Oaks.
"Our well-earned belief came from winning the Northwest Conference championship at Whitman last season and earning a hard-fought road win at Whitman this season," said head coach Damion Jablonski about the Bucs' ability to bounce back from a rough first half.
After a good start, the Pirates suffered through their worst shooting half of the year in the opening 20 minutes. Holtz and Sullivan Menard hit three-pointers to help give the Bucs a 12-6 lead six minutes into the game. But then Whitworth went cold and CLU used a 20-5 run over the next 12 minutes to open a 26-17 lead on a jumper by Devon Lewis. After the Pirates cut the margin to 26-20 on a basket by Holtz, the Kingsmen went into halftime with a 30-21 advantage. Whitworth was fortunate the deficit was not greater after the Pirates made only 23% (6-26) from the field in the first 20 minutes.
Whitworth came out of halftime with energy and cut into the margin quickly. Garrett Long had a chance to tie the game when he was fouled while pulling the Bucs within 36-35. But the free throw didn't go down. CLU responded with a 9-1 run to retake a nine-point advantage (45-36). Trailing 49-40, Whitworth went on a 10-0 run to take its first lead since the opening minutes. Holtz scored on a second-chance basket to put the Pirates ahead 50-49.
The Kingsmen regrouped with a 7-1 run, going ahead 56-51 on a pair of free throws by Tommy Griffitts with 3:44 to play. Then the Bucs caught fire. Long converted a three-point play and Holtz scored to retie the game. Trailing 59-56 with less than 30 seconds to play, Menard drilled a three-pointer to tie the game and Whitworth got the defensive stop to force overtime.
After Griffitts scored the first basket of overtime, the Pirates got a three from Jerry Twenge and Long hit a tough jumper in the paint. The Bucs never trailed again. Ben Nyquist drained a three with 1:37 to go to give Whitworth some separation (71-66). Holtz had a breakaway dunk with 25 seconds to play for a 75-69 lead.
"We knew this was a 40-minute game and that we were capable," Jablonski said.
Holtz added six boards, two assists and two steals to his 25 points. Menard finished with 16 points, making four treys, while Long totaled 11 points. Whitworth improved its shooting to 50% (14-28) in the second half, and 71% (5-7) in the extra period.
Patrick Renane had 17 points off the bench to lead CLU, while Brock Susko scored 14. The Kingsmen made 40% of their shots (26-65) in the game.
Whitworth improved to 15-15 all-time in its 17th NCAA tournament appearance. The victory was the Bucs' second true road win in the NCAA tournament, following a second-round win at UT-Dallas in 2020. The Pirates also improved to 6-0 all-time against Cal Lutheran.
Whitworth and CMS will meet in the NCAA DIII tournament for the fourth time. The Stags won the most recent two tournament matchups in 2017 and 2018, but the Pirates have two regular season victories over CMS since that time.