Nelson’S 3-Pointer Rallies Whits
Warren Friedrichs’ intuition was telling him Friday night’s men’s basketball game was going to go down to the wire.
He was right. And the Whitworth coach certainly enjoyed the final act.
With 4 seconds remaining, guard Ryan Nelson swished a 3-point basket to lift the Pirates past Linfield 81-79 at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The win completed Whitworth’s season sweep over the Northwest Conference’s top team. Linfield’s Wildcats (18-5, 12-4) entered the week as the fifth-ranked team in the NCAA Division III West Region poll.
Whitworth, out of the hunt for the conference crown, improved to 12-10, 9-6, winning six of its last seven games. But the season included a rare seven-game losing streak in December that put the Pirates in the hole.
“We did it to ourselves,” said Nelson, who finished with a team-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. “We lost some early games that we shouldn’t have.”
During the disappointing stretch, Nelson, a lanky 6-foot-5 sophomore from Waterville, also lost his shooting touch. He also played through a hamstring injury, but despite returning to full health, he’s never gotten his starting spot back.
Friday, when Linfield’s Grant Ebright tied the score at 77 by sinking the first of two free throws, Friedrichs called timeout. Nelson replaced starting shooting guard Kelson Ramey. Ebright then sank the second free throw to give the visitors a 78-77 lead with 16 seconds left.
With time winding down, Whitworth couldn’t find an inside shot. Greg Jones kicked the ball out to an open Nelson, who unloaded the game-winner. Linfield’s Matt Dyment attempted a desperation shot at the buzzer, but it didn’t touch the rim.
“He’s been a shooter all his life,” Friedrichs said of Nelson. “He’s probably taken the game-winner 25 times in his life.”
Whitworth never trailed in the first half and led by 14 points twice. Its second big lead - 38-24 - came when Julian Nakanishi scored on a pretty scoop shot with 3:54 left in the half. Nakanishi, one of five seniors playing in their final home games this weekend, finished with 18 points and kept the Pirates in the game when things got close.
The Pirates maintained another 14-point lead, 50-36, when Ramey connected on his third straight basket with 15:40 left in the game. That’s when the Wildcats went on a 12-3 run to narrow the lead to 53-48.
Linfield took its first lead, 64-63, on Ebright’s 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining. From then on, the game went back and forth, had five lead changes and was tied six times.
“By then I was thinking, it was going to be a one-play game,” Friedrichs said.
Ebright had 21 points for Linfield.