Whitworth Reaches Final Four With 88-70 Win Over Crusaders

Giant-killer.

That’s what host school Northwest Nazarene College had been heading into Saturday night’s quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Whitworth in the NAIA Division II tournament.

The Crusaders entered this tourney unranked and unseeded, but knocked out the fifth- and 12th-seeded teams - prompting one Boise-area reporter to write, “Seeds schmeeds, this is Northwest Nazarene’s Tournament.”

But that all ended Saturday night because Whitworth’s Roman Wickers was in the house. Wickers stole the keys to Montgomery Fieldhouse and the hearts of the Crusaders’ fans, scoring 26 points as the Pirates hammered Northwest Nazarene 88-70 to move within two victories of a national championship.

The Pirates (25-4) take on William Jewell (30-8) of Liberty, Mo., as the NAIA Final Four gets under way Monday night at 7 PST.

In the other semifinal, third-seeded Albertson College (29-3) of Caldwell, Idaho, plays Walsh University (31-4) of North Canton, Ohio.

With Whitworth leading Northwest Nazarene 33-28 and just 3 minutes to go until halftime, Wickers nailed three 3-pointers, Nate Dunham hit one and the Pirates went into the intermission with a 45-32 lead.

But before heading into the dressing room, Wickers stood at the free-throw line in front of the Pirates bench and gazed around the gym with a Deion Sanders-like expression that demanded the question: “Whose house is this?”

At game’s end, the noisy Whitworth contingent among the overflow crowd of 4,000 let everybody in Nampa know just whose house it was.

“Our house - this is,” was chanted over and over by the roughly 500 Whitworth fans in attendance.

“I was just trying to get the crowd into the game,” Wickers explained. “Ours and theirs. I fed on it, the team fed on it.”

Wickers broke out of a two-game slump and led all scorers, making 10 for 14 field goals, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

“We were concerned about Wickers driving,” NNC coach Ed Weidenbach said. “Then he goes out and shoots like that. He was the big dagger in the first half. He was huge tonight.”

Dunham added 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting and Gabe Jones had 21 with an 8-for-12 effort as the Pirates shot 63 percent.

In the second half, Whitworth used a 16-9 run to move its lead to 61-41. But at the halfway mark, the Crusaders (19-13) went on a 12-2 run to cut the Pirates’ lead to 63-53 with 9:13 to play. After the Pirates’ used a timeout, they immediately countered with a 5-0 run, the big blow coming when Dunham converted a three-point play.

While Wickers did the damage from the outside, Dunham worked the inside from start to finish.

“With the outside game going, it frees up the inside,” Dunham said. “It was just a matter of taking it to the hole.”

Whitworth’s first-half surge clearly proved to be the difference.

“We didn’t want to be even in the final 5 minutes,” Pirates coach Warren Friedrichs said. “If it’s close and they hit a 3, it’s going to feel like a nine-point play.”

There was no chance of this one being close at the end, though. Not with the Pirates shooting 63 percent, nearly matching their first-round shooting performance of 70 percent against Howard Payne.

In three tournament games, the Pirates have the best shooting percentage of any team, with a .625 mark. Emery-Riddle is second at a .586 clip. The Pirates are also shooting .518 from the 3-point line, having made 9 of 16 Saturday night.

The Crusaders, meanwhile, shot 36 percent. Roy Garcia led them with 18 points.

“They shoot 63 percent, we shoot 36 percent?” Weidenbach said. “You add it up.”

Whitworth 88, NW Nazarene 70

Whitworth - Jones 8-12 2-2 21, Dunham 9-15 3-3 22, Arkills 2-2 0-1 4, Williams 4-8 4-4 13, Wickers 10-14 2-2 26, Mix 0-1 0-0 0, Weston 0-0 0-0 0, Vargas 0-0 0-0 0, Beckman 0-1 0-0 0, Schulz 1-1 0-0 2, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-54 11-12 88.

Northwest Nazarene - Herron 4-13 2-2 14, Stott 2-6 0-0 4, Smith 2-6 5-6 9, Todd Schumacher 2-6 0-0 5, Garcia 5-10 8-10 18, Kinneeveauk 3-5 6-6 13, Tony Schumacher 0-5 0-0 0, Marion 1-2 0-0 3, Collins 1-3 0-0 2, Adams 0-1 0-0 0, Snider 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 21-58 21-26 70.

Halftime score - Whitworth 45, NNC 32. 3-point goals - Whtw 9-16 (Jones 3-6, Dunham 1-2, Williams 1-2, Wickers 4-6), NNC 7-23 (Herron 4-12, Schumacher 1-3, Garcia 0-1, Kinneeveauk 1-2, Tony Schumacher 0-3, Marion 1-2). Total fouls - Whtw 21, NNC 15. Fouled out - None. Technical fouls - None. Rebounds - Whtw 32 (Dunham 9), NNC 24 (Smith 7). Assists - Whtw 12 (Wickers 4), NNC 7 (Tony Schumacher 3).

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