SPOKANE. Wash. – The Whitworth Pirate men's basketball team secured a Northwest Conference championship and the #1 seed in the NWC Tournament with a thrilling 92-87 victory over George Fox on Saturday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The Pirates, now 12-2 in the NWC (21-2 overall), won their ninth consecutive game and avenged their loss to the Bruins on January 17th. George Fox fell to 11-12 overall and 7-7 in the NWC.
The night began with the recognition of three Pirate seniors. Jake Holtz, Garrett Long and Craig Mueller were each honored for their contributions to the men's basketball program throughout their Pirate careers. Mueller made his first career start in place of Ben Nyquist.
Holtz began his senior night by scoring the first eight Pirate points, six of which came on two converted three-point plays. Despite the strong start from Holtz, George Fox knocked down nine of its first 13 shots and led 20-15 with 11:17 to go in the half. Whitworth battled and took a 28-27 lead after a driving layup from Ty Edwards three minutes later. Long hit a tough left-handed floater with just over two minutes on the clock to give Whitworth an eight-point lead (46-38), its largest of the half. Holtz closed the half with a pair of free throws to put the Pirates up 50-43 at halftime.
While George Fox started the game hot, the Pirates bested them with 18 made field goals in 27 attempts (62.1%) including 10 of 11 free throws. The Bruins shot 54.8% from the field. Holtz led Whitworth with 17 points at halftime and Long scored 13. The Bruin full-court press forced six Pirate turnovers in the first half and Momo Stokes led GFU with 13 points.
Stokes cut the Whitworth advantage to three early in the second half with a bucket from long distance, but the Bucs answered and pushed their lead back out to nine with a layup from Long at the 16:30 mark. GFU fought back with a 13-3 run of their own to take a 64-63 lead with 11:29 to play, its first since the 7:03 mark in the first half.
Immediately following the Bruin run, Caden Batemen led another Whitworth run that included a put-back dunk and a three-point play alley-oop dished from Holtz. Bateman followed with another fast break jam and gave the Bucs their largest lead of the game 78-66 with 8:06 to play. Over the next three minutes, the Whitworth lead slipped away as Stokes hit a pair of jumpers to tie the game at 85 with 4:23 to go.
With a minute to play and the score 88-87, Whitworth turned the ball over, which led to a foul. GFU's Nick Greenwood missed both free throws to hand the ball back to the Pirates. Holtz held the ball at the top and found Ben Nyquist in the corner who knocked down a three-pointer to put Whitworth up 91-87 with 15 seconds remaining. Holtz blocked a Bruin three-point attempt, and the Pirates forced a stop. Edwards hit a free throw on the other end to put the game to bed and secure a Whitworth NWC championship.
"I was really proud of the way the guys battled and we had great contributions from multiple guys stepping up," said head coach Damion Jablonski.
"Lucas Meissner and Caden Bateman were phenomenal and Nyquist's three in the corner was huge. We have a really special group of guys, and they seem to find ways to grit out wins."
The Pirates shot 51.6% (33-64) from the floor and knocked down six of 16 (37.5%) three-pointers. Whitworth dominated the paint battle (50-28) and outrebounded the Bruins 38-28 (13 offensive). GFU finished the game with a 53.3 shooting percentage and made 10 shots from distance.
Holtz led the Bucs in scoring with 22 points. Long put up 17 points, four rebounds and five assists. Ty Edwards scored 14 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Bateman scored all 11 of his points off the bench in the second half. Meissner had five points and two rebounds in just under eight minutes.
Stokes led all scorers with 30 points. Samuel Stewart IV put up 17 and grabbed six rebounds. Nick Greenwood (12), Aiden Price (10) and Jake Bishop (11) were also in double figures for the Bruins.
The Pirates will head to Whitman for a second matchup with the Blues on Tuesday, February 18th before closing the season at Linfield on February 22nd. Whitworth will host the NWC Tournament on February 28th and March 1st.