Whitworth Wins Big, But Prize Is Playoffs On Road

The Whitworth College men’s basketball team took care of what it had to do Saturday night. But it couldn’t control the big picture - stay away from postseason road games.

The Pirates easily handled Pacific Lutheran 87-60 before a packed house of 1,800 at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The weekend sweep pushed their record to 11-5 in the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges, 18-6 overall. Pacific and Lewis & Clark also won two games each this weekend, giving the Boxers (19-5, 13-3) the NCIC crown and the Pioneers (12-4, 20-4) a second-place finish.

Third-place Whitworth will travel to Portland on Wednesday for a conference semifinal game against Lewis & Clark. Pacific will host fourth-place finisher PLU (15-9, 10-6). The highest seed remaining will host the conference championship next Saturday with an automatic berth to the NAIA Division II national championship on the line.

“The teams that were in front of us deserve it,” Whitworth coach Warren Friedrichs said. “But I think we were getting better this week.”

Just one week ago, the Pirates lost at LC 96-84 on a night Friedrichs elected to shake up the lineup and start three reserves. It was the Pirates’ fifth conference road loss. They finished the regular season 11-0 at home.

“Tonight was an animated game. There was a lot of energy and the defense was excellent,” Friedrichs said.

The same was true for the offense, which shot a scorching 60.7 percent in the first half and 56.1 overall. The Pirates defense held the Lutes to 37.3 percent shooting for the game.

Seth Albright, PLU’s leading scorer who averages 15.7 points per game, finished with just four points on 2-of-11 shooting. Chris Pierce, usually good for 13.8 points per game, scored three points.

Much of Pierce’s ineptness was credited to Whitworth’s Louie Vargas. The senior guard got a rare start on an evening dedicated to the Pirates’ seniors.

Whitworth never trailed in the game and led by as many as 26 points, 77-51.

But the Bucs put the game away long before that. With 12:55 left in the first half, Whitworth turned an 8-6 lead into a 30-15 lead in 3-1/2 minutes. Four different players contributed, led by Ben Heimerman’s six points. Heimerman, who paced the Pirates Friday night with 22 points, finished with a game-high 21.

Whitworth 87, Pacific Lutheran 60

Pacific Lutheran - Wang 0-1 0-0 0, Douglass 1-3 0-0 2, Kelly 0-5 1-2 1, Peirce 1-3 0-0 3, Albright 2-11 0-0 4, Swanson 0-0 0-0 0, Maners 1-8 1-4 3, Preuit 1-2 3-4 5, Carrell 5-11 0-2 10, Brevet 8-14 0-0 16, Schlottman 6-9 3-5 16. Team totals - 25-67 8-15 60.

Whitworth - Weston 3-9 3-4 12, Mix 5-8 1-1 11, Williams 4-5 2-2 13, Schulz 2-2 0-0 4, Ga.Jones 4-12 4-4 13, Nakanishi 2-3 0-0 4, Vargas 1-4 0-0 3, Heimerman 9-10 2-4 21, Sullivan 1-1 0-0 2, McDaniel 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan 1-1 0-0 2, Gr.Jones 0-2 2-2 2. Team totals - 32-57 14-17 87.

Halftime - Whitworth 45, Pacific 29. 3-point goals - Pacific 2-12 (Wang 0-1, Douglass 0-1, Kelly 0-1, Peirce 1-2, Albright 0-1, Maners 0-2, Carrell 0-1, Brevet 0-2, Schlottman 1-1), Whitworth 9-19 (Weston 3-6, Williams 3-3, Ga.Jones 1-5, Vargas 1-3, Heimerman 1-1, Gr.Jones 0-1). Total fouls - Pacific 17, Whitworth 17. Fouled out - Douglass. Technical fouls - Pacific bench, Whitworth bench. Rebounds - Pacific 38 (Schlottman 9), Whitworth 36 (Heimerman 7). Assists - Pacific 13 (Kelly 7), Whitworth 20 (Ga.Jones 6).

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NCIC TOP FOUR FINISHERS League Overall W L PCT W L PCT Pacific 13 3 .812 19 5 .791 Lewis&Clark 12 4 .750 20 4 .833 Whitworth 11 5 .687 18 6 .750 PLU 10 6 .625 15 9 .625 Wednesday’s semifinal games No. 4 PLU at No. 1 Pacific No. 3 Whitworth at No. 2 Lewis & Clark