College Basketball Today

Lewis & Clark, Pacific at Whitworth

The NAIA Division II No. 8-ranked Whitworth Pirates (2-2 NCIC, 11-6) hosts Lewis & Clark (3-0, 9-8) Friday night at 8 and Pacific (0-3, 3-11) Saturday night at 8.

At a glance

Whitworth can do no wrong. The Pirates split last weekend’s road games (beat Linfield, lost to Willamette) and moved from No. 12 to No. 8 in the national rankings.

While there is no questioning the significance of the attention generated by the ranking, the fact of the matter is, Whitworth is in fourth place in the NCIC.

In order to win, Whitworth must find a way to contain L&C’s 6-foot-4 forward, Dinari Foreman. Foreman is averaging a league-leading 26.3 ppg is second in rebounding with 9.4 rpg. Foreman scored 90 points in three games last week, shooting 32 of 52 from the field (4 of 7 from behind the 3-point line) and 22 of 30 from the free-throw line to go with 37 rebounds.

For the Pirates, Whitworth has four of five starters in the top 20 in scoring. Nate Dunham (17.6), Kevin Wright (16.9), Roman Wickers (14.8) and Greg Stern (11.4) lead the charge.

Wright leads the league in blocked shots (1.0) and is fourth in rebounding (8.1); Stern is second in assists (5.5) and tied for second in steals with Wickers (2.1).

Walla Walla at CCS

The Community Colleges of Spokane (2-2 NWAACC, 5-11) will play host to

Walla Walla (3-1, 10-5) tonight at 8.

At a glance

The Sasquatch are coming off of back-to-back road losses to Blue Mountain and Columbia Basin after a 2-0 start in league play.

Against CB, the Sasquatch showed a lot of heart after fighting back from 11 points down in the second half in the 71-67 loss. Dean Smith led CCS with 16-point effort in that contest.