When It Rains, Whitworth Soars Pirates Sink A Record 15 3s In 96-65 Thrashing Of Linfield

It was raining Saturday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Raining 3-pointers, that is.

The 12th-ranked Whitworth Pirates set a school record by draining 15 3-pointers on 25 attempts (60 percent) in a 96-65 thumping of the Linfield Wildcats in a Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges league men’s basketball game.

The old record was set during the 1987-88 season when the Pirates hit 12 3-pointers against Northwest.

“You hit a few 3s and they become contagious,” Whitworth coach Warren Friedrichs said. “When the first couple of 3s went in, we got the momentum.”

Whitworth is now 10-2 overall and 2-0 in the NCIC. The Pirates beat eighth-ranked Willamette 60-47 Friday night.

Six of Whitworth’s first nine baskets were 3-pointers with Nate Williams and Gabe Jones sinking two apiece in that stretch. The Pirates drained 11 of 15 (73.3 percent) on 3s in the first half. Seven Whitworth players had at least one 3-pointer in the game.

Whitworth had five players score in double figures as Williams ended up with 18, 4 for 6 from beyond the arc, and Jones 15, 4 for 5 from 3-point range.

Roman Wickers led the Pirates with 19 points, Nathan Dunham had 12 and Jeff Mix 10.

Jason Henderson led Linfield with 19 points and nine rebounds.

“I was hoping to get things going on the right track,” said Williams, who also had 10 assists. “I felt good because I did a lot of extra shooting in the shoot-around.”

The 3-pointers, combined with a stingy defense and an attacking offense, propelled the Pirates to a huge first-half lead that would never be challenged. Whitworth led 27-6 10:58 into the game and rode that to a 54-34 halftime advantage on 20-of-31 shooting (64.5 percent).

The second half didn’t get much better for the Wildcats as the Pirates quickly pushed their lead to 68-40 with 6:22 gone. The closest Linfield would get was 82-57 with 6:02 left in the game.

“We just played good team ball,” Wickers said. “We swung the ball around and got it to the open man.”

Whitworth held a huge edge in rebounding, 47-33, led by Dunham’s 11. The Pirates bench also outscored Linfield’s 31-17. And with the big win over Willamette and the drubbing of Linfield, Whitworth will undoubtedly move up in the polls.

“It’s nice to see us there, but we don’t think or talk about it” Williams said. “I guess it would be kind of a jinx.”

Whitworth 96, Linfield 65

Linfield (1-1, 4-7) - Rohlffs 1-5 0-0 2, Lucas 3-6 2-3 8, Doucette 2-5 3-4 7, Bailey 3-6 1-2 9, Faison 0-0 0-0 0, Curran 0-2 0-0 0, Nietz 3-6 3-3 9, Dixon 3-12 4-5 10, Cannon 0-1 0-1 0, Miller 0-1 1-2 1, Henderson 8-19 3-4 19, Nelson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals-23-66 17-24 65.

Whitworth (2-0, 10-2) - Weston 1-2 5-6 8, Mix 4-4 2-2 10, Williams 7-10 0-0 18, Wickers 8-12 1-2 19, Jones 5-10 1-2 15, Dunham 4-7 3-4 12, Vargas 1-3 0-1 2, Arkills 0-1 1-2 1, Beckman 2-4 0-0 6, Schulz 0-2 0-1 0, Jordan 2-2 0-0 5, Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Fox 0-1 0-0 0. Totals-34-61 13-20 96.

Halftime - Whitworth 54, Linfield 34. 3-point goals - Linfield 2-9 (Lucas 0-1, Doucette 0-3, Bailey 2-3, Dixon 0-1, Miller 0-1). Whitworth 15-25 (Weston 1-2, Williams 4-6, Wickers 2-2, Jones 4-5, Dunham 1-2, Vargas 0-2, Beckman 2-3, Jordan 1-1, Jones 0-2). Total fouls - Linfield 14, Whitworth 22. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - Linfield 33 (Henderson 9). Whitworth 47 (Dunham 13). Assists - Linfield 9 (Bailey 3). Whitworth 24 (Williams 10).

, DataTimes