Friedrichs Works His Magic As Whits Club Carroll, 81-58

As the Whitworth Pirates moved their overall record to 17-7 in an 81-58 men’s basketball win over Carroll College on Thursday night, keen observers couldn’t overlook the strategical genius that are a trademark of Pirates head coach Warren Friedrichs.

With the Pirates holding a 36-30 lead with 42 seconds remaining until halftime, Friedrichs signaled to ballhandling guard Greg Stern to hold the ball to take some time off the clock.

As the 35-second shot clock moved to 10 seconds, Stern made his move to the bucket. He dropped off the ball to a cutting Nate Dunham, who scored with 9 seconds left. Dunham had a clear path to the basket after getting a perfect screen from Jeff Palmer.

The maneuver forced Carroll (14-13) into a hurried shot at the end of the half, and kept it from getting any momentum before intermission.

As the Pirates slowly pulled away in the second half, Friedrichs went to his strategy bag to seal the win.

Instead of getting into a potential run-and-gun statistic-padding gameending frenzy, Friedrichs spread Whitworth’s half-court motion offense and had his team use up more clock.

Sometimes the stall game backfires, and it takes a team out of its offensive rhythm. That never happened to the Pirates. And even if it did, Whitworth’s defense was so stingy, it most likely wouldn’t have allowed Carroll back in the game.

“That was the best we finished yet,” Friedrichs said.

Three-point bombs from Louis Vargas and inside scoring from Jeff Palmer and John Beckman polished off Carroll. In the three-game series with the NAIA Division I squad from Helena, Mont., Whitworth won 2-1.

Whitworth’s Nate Dunham led all scorers with 18 points, and Kevin Wright had 17. But Wright’s second-half defensive effort against Carroll’s secondleading scorer took Carroll out of the game.

Carroll’s Brandon Boedecker is a big-bodied player from Butte, Mont. He finished the game with 15 points, but Wright held him to just two points in the second half.

“I just played him to get him to shoot from his shoulder,” Wright said. “It was hard for him to square up to the basket after I started playing him that way.”

Said Friedrichs: “Our defensive effort was really solid tonight. Kevin volunteered to guard Boedecker earlier in the week. He was pretty much on his own tonight because we couldn’t afford to double- and triple-team him because of their 3-point shooters (Guy Almquist and Shawn Nelson).”

On the perimeter, the Pirates’ Roman Wickers held Nelson to 2-for-8 shooting from beyond the 3-point circle. It was the third game in a row that Wickers shut down the opponent’s big gun.

“Roman’s a defensive stopper,” Friedrichs said. “It takes away from his offense chasing the opponents’ leading scorer around the floor all the time, but he’s unselfish and enjoys the challenge.”

The Pirates had a 50-27 rebounding advantage.

Chipping in on the offensive end again was Palmer, who had 10 points and nine rebounds. But Louis Vargas’ also chipped in with eight points, shooting 3 for 4 from the field. He also made two 3-point bombs at game’s end to keep Carroll at bay.

“Playing against Roman in practice makes me better,” Vargas said. “Overall, we’re just playing great as a team. We’re not concerned about our individual performances. Coach has us looking at it from a team perspective.”

Whitworth returns to action Saturday night at home at 8 to take on Whitman in an NCIC game.

And speaking of the rest of the conference, some team had better find a way of taking over the top spot in the conference from the Pirates. Whitworth is 10-1 at home.

“The highest-seeded team has homecourt advantage for as long as it’s in the four-team tournament,” Pirates assistant coach Rodney Weckers said. “And with the confidence we have at home - that is a big advantage.”

Whitworth 81, Carroll 58

CARROLL (14-13)

Asher 4-5 0-0 9, Nelson 6-16 3-3 17, Allen 1-3 0-0 2, Almquist 1-8 0-0 3, Clyne 0-1 0-1 0, Hunter 1-3 0-0 2, DeBow 1-1 0-0 3, Boedecker 7-14 1-3 15, Kammerzell 1-3 0-0 2, Heuiser 1-2 0-0 2, Dean 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 24-59 4-7 58.

WHITWORTH (17-7)

Weston 0-0 0-0 0, Stern 4-10 0-2 8, Wickers 4-13 3-3 12, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Dunham 7-9 4-7 18, Vargas 3-4 0-0 8, Arkills 2-3 2-2 6, Beckman 1-2 2-2 4, Mix 0-0 0-0 0, Devine 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 5-13 4-8 15, Palmer 4-6 2-2 10. Totals 30-60 17-26 81.

Halftime - Whitworth 38, Carroll 30. 3-Point goals - Carroll 6-20 (Nelson 2-8, DeBow 1-1, Asher 1-2, Dean 1-2, Almquist 1-4, Heuiser 0-1, Allen 0-2), Whitworth 4-13 (Vargas 2-2, Wright 1-1, Wickers 1-6, Arkills 0-1, Palmer 0-1, Stern 0-2). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Carroll 27 (Boedecker 7), Whitworth 50 (Dunham, Palmer 9). Assists - Carroll 10 (Almquist 3), Whitworth 20 (Stern 8). Total fouls - Carroll 18, Whitworth 12. A - 1,200 est.