Montgomery saves Pirates

Nate Montgomery showed up early and worked late into the evening Saturday.

Whitworth University needed every productive minute its active 6-foot-8 senior center logged to hold off an inspired upset bid by Northwest Conference basketball rival George Fox and keep its winning streak alive.

Montgomery hung a career-high 33 points on the visiting Bruins and also chased down 11 rebounds as the Pirates managed to carve out a 75-70 victory before a Whitworth Fieldhouse crowd of 1,225.

The win was the 10th straight for the Bucs (11-2, 4-0 NWC), who used the inside muscle of Montgomery and Felix Friedt to offset the splendid long-range shooting of the upset-minded Bruins (5-8, 2-2).

Montgomery, after suffering through a slow first half in Friday night’s 86-62 rout of Pacific, scored 11 first-half points and got stronger throughout the contest in converting 14 of 23 field goals and 5 of 9 free throws while playing 39 minutes. Friedt, a 6-8, sophomore, added 14 points and eight rebounds, despite playing only 17 minutes.

“The game plan was to attack inside and get their big guys in foul trouble,” Montgomery said. “And we did a pretty good job of that.”

Too good, perhaps, according to Pirates coach Jim Hayford.

“The foul trouble on their bigs probably helped them,” Hayford said, “because then they spread us out on defense real well, and our bigs had to guard smaller guys who shot the ball great from 3.

“And then we tried to play the same one-note song – let’s go inside, because they’re so undersized – and ended up, maybe, standing around too much on the perimeter and not shooting the ball very well when they collapsed.”

George Fox shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter, knocking down 9 of 19 attempts from 3-point range and hanging with the Pirates until the closing seconds, when Montgomery scored on a putback and senior point guard Eric Beal made a couple of free throws.

“At the end of the day, we got a win against a team that came in here and played very, very well,” Hayford said of the Bruins, who got a team-high 28 points from Jack Martin and trailed 71-68 with 1:05 remaining.

“They’re a lot tougher team than they used to be,” Montgomery said. “They came in and played us tough and physical for the whole game.”

Whitworth, which is in search of its fourth consecutive NWC title, opened with a flurry of unanswered points. The Pirates buried four of their first five field goals – including a pair of 3-pointers – and sprinted to a 10-0 lead that seemed to have George Fox in full stagger.

But the Bruins’ Stephen Wiseley, a 5-9 junior guard averaging 11.8 points per game, kept his team from caving completely by knocking down a free-throw line jumper and a pair of 3-pointers on the GF’s next three possessions.

Wiseley’s surge sliced Whitworth’s lead to 16-15, and the Bruins closed to within 33-32 just before halftime. But a pair of free throws by Jack Loofburrow with 2 seconds left in the opening period put the Bucs up 35-32 at intermission.

Whitworth 75, George Fox 70

 George Fox (5-8)- Lingerfelder 0-4 0-0 0, Stockner 3-4 0-0 7, Smith 3-11 0-0 6, Wiseley 3-5 2-2 10, Atwater 2-6 2-2 6, Martin 9-14 6-6 28, Whitehurst 0-2 2-2 2, Vahalla 2-3 0-3 4, Toedtemeier 2-4 1-4 7, Zandbergen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-53 13-19 70.

Whitworth (11-2)- Riley 3-4 0-0 9, Montgomery 14-235-9 33, Friedt 5-7 4-6 14, Beal 2-6 2-4 7, C. Gebbers 0-2 0-0 0, Call 0-1 0-2 0, Iddins 0-0 0-0 0, Gregg 2-8 2-2 6, W. Gebbers 0-2 0-0 0, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Odland 0-0 0-0 0, Loofburrow 1-6 4-4 6. Totals 27-59 17-27 75.

Halftime—Whitworth 35, George Fox 32. 3-Point Goals—George Fox 9-19 (Martin 4-6, Wiseley 2-4, Toedtemeier 2-3, Stockner 1-1, Lingenfelder 0-3, Smith 0-1), Whitworth 4-18 (Riley 3-3, Beal 1-3, Gregg 0-4, Loofburrow 0-4, W. Gebbers 0-2, Montgomery 0-1, C. Gebbers 0-1). Fouled Out—Riley, Stockner. Rebounds—George Fox 32 (Toedtemeier 4), Whitworth 40 (Montgomery 11). Assists—George Fox 13 (Martin 6), Whitworth 17 (Beal 4). Total Fouls—George Fox 21, Whitworth 21. A—1,225.