Loyal Fans Can Find Their Bucs At Home Whitworth Men’s Team Returns To Action After 23-Day Holiday Hiatus

After a 23-day holiday layoff, coach Warren Friedrichs and his Whitworth men’s basketball team are ready to roll.

“We’re just anxious to get going again. We had three good games before Christmas and now it’s important to get some league wins,” Friedrichs said.

From here on out, all the Pirates’ games will be against Northwest Conference opponents. After going 1-1 against NCIC rivals in December, the Pirates (5-3) finished 1997 with three non-conference wins and shot 57 percent or better from the field in all three games.

Whitworth plays its first home conference game tonight at 8 against Pacific (2-5), followed by a home game Saturday night against Linfield (3-6). The Whitworth women (2-6) start off both nights at 6 p.m. against Pacific and Linfield.

“Our fans have been asking us, ‘Where’ve you been?”’ Friedrichs said. “Hopefully, we can get our fans out and get it all started.”

The Pirates carry a 34-game home winning streak into tonight’s game. The team’s biggest adjustment will be juggling Ben Heimerman back into the lineup. Heimerman, a physical 6-foot-6 senior forward, missed the first eight games because he was ineligible for the fall semester. As a junior, he was the NAIA Division II leader in field-goal percentage sinking 68.8 percent (150 of 218) of his shots.

Greg Jones, a 6-5 junior, and Jeff Mix, a 6-6 senior, have successfully been plugging up the middle. Mix leads the team in scoring (13.9) and rebounding (6.6) and Jones is averaging 12.3 ppg and five rpg.

Pacific, a team that advanced to the NAIA Division II second round last year, is rebuilding after losing four starters including NCIC player of the year Brett Jefferies. The Boxers and the Pirates split games last year.

The Pirates defeated Linfield both times last year. The Wildcats are led by 6-7 Scott Turner, a freshman from Tualatin, Ore., who’s averaging 15.5 points per game. Turner was the leading scorer at the Oregon Class AAA all-star game last summer.

Whitworth guard Phil Ruebel missed practice this week after turning an ankle in practice Monday. He’s expected to play tonight.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Coming up Tonight: Pacific at Whitworth, 8. Saturday: Linfield at Whitworth, 8 p.m. Radio: KSBN 1230 AM