Whitworth Beats Carroll Wickers Scores 19 Points As Pirates Avenge Early Loss

Whitworth is a basketball team on a roll right now, and when the Pirates turned up the heat Friday night, the Carroll College Fighting Saints didn’t have a prayer.

The Pirates won for the sixth time in seven games and avenged their only loss of the season, defeating Carroll 74-63 in a non-league game at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The loss dropped the busy Saints to 8-5 and was their first defeat on the road. They downed the Pirates 73-67 in Helena, Mont., in Whitworth’s second game of the season.

The final margin was only 11 points, but the contest was that close only because Carroll scored 12 straight at the finish after trailing 74-51.

Whitworth reached its big second-half advantage with a 26-8 stretch after leading by only five points, 44-39, 6 minutes into the second half. The Pirates put Carroll away with a 12-point run that pushed the lead to 68-45.

The Bucs had a chance to bury the Saints early, leading 27-15 with 4:30 to play in the first half. But Carroll fought back, got 10 points from Rick Asher and trailed only 35-30 at the half.

Whitworth won it with impressive balance - five Pirates were in double figures - and solid second-half defense on Carroll’s two top scoring threats, Asher and post Brad Kammerzell. Those two combined for 22 first-half points, but had only two field goals in the second half.

Roman Wickers led the Pirates with 19 points, continuing to shoot well as he made 4 of 5 3-point attempts. Nathan Dunham added 16 points, including 12 in the second half, and had 14 rebounds.

“I love it when your seniors play like that, give that kind of an effort,” Whitworth coach Warren Friedrichs said. “Roman just plays a total game, and Nate came out in the second half with fire in his eye.”

Dunham made only 1 of 6 first-half shots, but was 5 for 7 after the break. “He was really unhappy with himself,” Friedrichs said, “but he didn’t play badly in the first half - he just didn’t finish well.”

Nate Williams made all five of his shots from the field and scored 11, matching Pirates teammate Gabe Jones, and sophomore Jeff Mix had 10 off the bench - two more than he scored in the first six games combined.

“Jeff just keeps getting better,” Friedrichs said. “He’s a strong rebounder, and tonight he was tough on the 15-foot jumper.” Mix made his first five shots as the Pirates shot almost 55 percent from the field.

Kammerzell finished with 14 points to lead Carroll and Asher scored 13. Former Central Valley star Paul Allen, averaging 14.4 points per game, started for the Saints and scored six, but made only 2 of 13 shots from the field. The Saints recently lost leading scorer Guy Almquist with a knee injury.

Whitworth 74, Carroll College 63

CARROLL COLLEGE

Thoemke 2-4 3-4 7, Asher 5-10 0-0 13, Turcott 0-0 0-0 0, Van Nice 4-6 0-1 8, Merideth 1-6 0-0 2, Allen 2-13 2-2 6, Hunter 2-4 1-2 5, DeBrow 2-4 0-1 4, Kammerzell 7-11 0-0 14, Logue 2-4 0-2 4. Totals 27-62 6-12 63.

WHITWORTH

Weston 0-2 0-0 0, Mix 5-7 0-1 10, Williams 5-5 0-1 11, Wickers 7-15 1-2 19, Ga.Jones 5-8 0-0 11, Dunham 6-13 4-6 16, Vargas 0-1 0-0 0, Arkills 2-3 0-0 4, Beckman 1-2 0-0 3, Schulz 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0, Gr.Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Fox 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-57 5-10 74.

Halftime - Whitworth 35, Carroll College 30. 3-point goals - Carroll College 3-14 (Asher 3-5, Allen 0-5, Merideth 0-1, Thoemke 0-1, DeBrow 0-1, Kammerzell 0-1). Whitworth 7-15 (Wickers 4-5, Beckman 1-2 Ga.Jones 1-3, Williams 1-1, Gr.Jones 0-1, Dunham 0-1, Vargas 0-1, Mix 0-1). Total fouls - Carroll College 11, Whitworth 12. Fouled out - Kammerzell. Rebounds - Carroll College 36 (Merideth, Hunter 4). Whitworth 33 (Dunham 14). Assists - Carroll College 14 (Asher 5). Whitworth 17 (Dunham 5).