Bucs Hammer Northwest To Get Home-Opening Win Nate Dunham Gets 24 Points, 14 Boards In An 82-56 Victory
In Whitworth’s season-opening win Monday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse, Pirates basketball coach Warren Friedrichs said his team struggled offensively.
Well, if scoring 82 points is struggling, Friedrichs clearly has some lofty ambitions for the 1995-96 season. Whitworth battered Northwest College 82-56.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well,” Friedrichs said. “I thought we struggled offensively; defensively though, the effort was there.”
The Pirates shot 28 for 65 (.431 percent) for the game. However, senior guard Roman Wickers’ 1-for-14 shooting night has to be factored into the equation. Throw it out and Whitworth shoots 27 of 51, putting the Pirates over .500 from the floor.
So as Wickers struggled, senior forward Nate Dunham picked up the slack. In his typical manner, he shot 9 for 13 from the floor and was 6 of 10 from the free-throw line to lead all scorers with 24 points. Dunham also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, seven of which came off the offensive glass.
All-in-all, it wasn’t a bad effort for a team that had some opening-night jitters.
“It’s so different when it means something,” Dunham said. “We’ve been practicing against each other for so long - you really start getting anxious to play. I thought we did a pretty good job of staying intense the whole game.”
And with the exception of a couple of offensive spurts by the Eagles (2-4), Friedrichs was on target about his assessment of the defense. It was sweltering.
Northwest shot just 23 of 62 from the floor (.371). Whitworth outrebounded the Eagles 53-35 while forcing them to commit 23 turnovers compared to the Pirates’ 16.
Whitworth built a 38-25 halftime lead and the Pirates (1-0) were never seriously challenged in the second half.
Whitworth takes to the road to face Carroll College tonight at 6:30 in Helena.
Whitworth 82, Northwest 56
NORTHWEST (56)
Symons 0-0 0-2 0, Nealey 8-16 0-0 18, Gould 0-2 0-0 0, Wille 2-6 0-0 6, Nugent 2-5 0-2 4, Gallatin 3-11 1-1 8, Miller 4-8 1-3 10, Henry 2-10 0-0 6, Brinkman 2-4 0-1 4. Totals 23-62 0-9 56.
WHITWORTH (82)
Weston 1-2 0-0 3, Mix 3-6 0-1 6, Williams 5-9 3-4 14, Wickers 1-14 4-6 6, Jones 2-8 2-3 7, Dunham 9-13 6-10 24, Vargas 0-1 0-0 0, Arkills 2-5 4-6 8, Beckman 3-4 0-0 8, Schulz 0-0 0-1 0, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 2-3 2-2 6. Totals 28-65 21-33 82.
3-Point goals-Northwest 8-27 (Nealey 2-6, Wille 2-5, Nugent 0-3, Gallatin 1-2, Miller 1-2, Henry 2-9), Whitworth 5-21 (Weston 1-2, Williams 1-2, Wickers 0-5, Jones 1-6, Vargas 0-1, Arkills 0-1, Beckman 2-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Northwest 35 (Wille, Miller 6), Whitworth 53 (Dunham 14, Mix 8, Beckman 7). Assists-Northwest 10 (Nealey 5), Whitworth 23 (Wickers 6). Total fouls-Northwest 22, Whitworth 18.
, DataTimes