Bearcats bear down on Whitworth’s top scorers

Willamette one-upped Whitworth in a game of takeaway Saturday night.

The Bearcats flustered and nullified Whitworth’s two leading scorers, and Willamette finished the upset it couldn’t earlier this season with an 82-74 victory over the Pirates in a Northwest Conference men’s basketball game at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Despite having its nine-game winning streak snapped, Whitworth (15-4, 8-2 NWC) remained in a first-place tie with Puget Sound – a 78-77 loser against George Fox – atop the NWC. Willamette, meanwhile, kept itself in the hunt for one of the NWC’s three postseason bids. The Bearcats (8-11, 6-4) are tied with Linfield and Pacific Lutheran for third place.

Willamette successfully negated the Pirates’ top two scorers – Ryan Symes and Colin Willemsen – for most of the contest. Symes, who had scored 65 points in his previous two games, was held without a field goal until less than 9 minutes remained.

Symes scored 13 of his 19 points after that, but his surge wasn’t enough to erase the Pirates’ deficit.

Symes knocked down two free throws to knot the score at 61 with 5:47 left, but Willamette made 12 of 14 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory. The Bearcats didn’t make all the shots necessary in the team’s first matchup when Whitworth rallied to top the Bearcats 72-65 in overtime on Jan. 5 at Salem, Ore.

“I have to give 100 percent of the credit to Willamette,” Pirates coach Jim Hayford said. “They executed their game plan and played with great poise.”

Symes and Willemsen, who had averaged a total of 31.2 points a game, combined to shoot 7 for 20 from the floor. David Riley and Tim Sellereit scored 17 and 16 points, respectively, to pace the Pirates.

Hayford again directed praise to Willamette.

“I have to give credit to the way (Willamette) played defense,” Hayford said. “In the first half our two big guys (Symes and Willemsen) were 1 for 9.”

Cameron Mitchell, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, powered the Bearcats in the paint with a game-high 27 points and 16 rebounds. Guard Mike Smith and 6-6 forward Kyler McClary – Willamette’s two leading scorers this season – added 19 and 16 points, respectively.

The Bearcats scored 36 points in the paint.

Whitworth’s Nate Montgomery, a 6-6 post player, missed the game as he continues to recover from an ankle injury. Hayford said Montgomery felt pain following 10 minutes of practice and isn’t ready to return. Asked what that timetable might be, Hayford said, “I wish I knew.”

•Jon Clift led five players in double figures with 17 points as Community Colleges of Spokane defeated Wenatchee Valley 86-67 in a Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges game in Wenatchee.

Robert Lippman added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Bo Gregg chipped in 15 points for the Sasquatch (21-1, 8-0), who outscored the Knights 46-29 in the first half.

Ryan Votaw had a game-high 28 points to lead Wenatchee Valley (6-15, 3-6).

•Art Parakhouski and Kevin Galloway scored 15 points each and Joey Shaw added 14 as Southern Idaho routed North Idaho 108-77 in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game in Twin Falls, Idaho.

David Johnson had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Steve Wesley added 17 points to lead the Cardinals.

CSI improved to 22-0, 7-0 while the Cardinals fell to 15-7, 1-6.