Whits Find Florida A Cool Place

If the Whitworth Pirates thought they’d warm up when they hit Florida, they were mistaken. They cooled off in Lake Wales, Fla.

Chillier than the temperatures back in the Inland Northwest, the Pirates struggled with their shooting and with fouls in dropping a 68-61 men’s basketball decision to Berry on Friday afternoon in the opening game of The Sunshine Shootout.

The Pirates (4-4) play Keene (N.H.) College (9-2) in today’s consolation final. Berry (12-1) meets the host school, Warner Southern (7-5), a 95-92 winner over Keene, for the championship.

Friday’s first half was low-scoring, but Whitworth had more trouble than the Vikings. The Pirates scored just 14 points, hitting only 5 of 24 shots from the field in falling behind 19-14.

“We had some looks, we just didn’t make them,” said coach Warren Friedrichs. “Them, too.”

“We just couldn’t get anything going inside,” he added, noting the Pirates went to attacking more from the perimeter the second half.

It helped. Whitworth warmed up, going from 21 percent to 52 percent, but Berry hit 68 percent, and made the most of its free throw opportunities.

While Whitworth outscored Berry by 18 points from the field, the Pirates were called for 10 more fouls - 27-17 - and the Vikings put down 23 of 31 free throws. Whitworth was 10 of 18.

“We weren’t going inside, so we weren’t getting fouled much,” Friedrichs said of the discrepancy.

Tyler Jordan and Travis Meserve gave Whitworth a solid 1-2 punch, but they got little help. Jordan had 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting and Meserve 15, hitting 4 of 7 3s. No other Whitworth player scored more than seven points.

“Travis Meserve played great,” Friedrichs said of the freshman from Chewelah.

Berry had three in double figures, led by the talented 6-foot-8 Calvin Hocker with 19.

“I wasn’t dissatisfied,” Friedrichs said. “We played really hard. (Berry) is a really nice team.”

Berry 68, Whitworth 61

Berry (12-1) - Combes 0-1 0-0 0, Carroll 0-3 0-0 0, Gage 2-6 9-13 13, Harris 3-4 3-4 9, Hocker 8-14 3-4 19, Morris 1-2 2-2 5, C. Jones 1-1 2-2 4, Fink 4-7 0-1 10, Gibbons 0-0 0-0 0, Elgin 0-0 0-0 0, Balliard 1-4 0-0 2, DeBerry 1-5 4-5 6. Totals 21-46 23-31 68.

Whitworth (4-4) - Ramey 2-7 0-1 5, Meserve 5-8 1-2 15, Schulz 1-3 1-1 3, Rusk 1-1 0-0 3, Nakanishi 2-7 0-0 4, Nelson 1-6 0-0 3, Sullivan 0-4 0-0 0, McDaniel 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan 7-12 6-8 21, G. Jones 2-4 2-4 7, Ruebel 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 21-55 10-18 61.

Halftime - Berry 19, Whitworth 14. 3-point goals - Berry 3-11 (Fink 2-5, Morris 1-1, Harris 0-1, Carroll 0-2, DeBerry 0-2), Whitworth 9-29 (Meserve 4-7, Rusk 1-1, G. Jones 1-1, Ramey 1-4, Jordan 1-5, Nelson 1-6, McDaniel 0-1, Nakanishi 0-2, Ruebel 0-2). Fouled out - Hocker, Fink. Rebounds - Berry 39 (Balliard 8), Whitworth 29 (McDaniel, G. Jones 5). Assists - Berry 13 (Gage 5), Whitworth 6 (Ramey 3). Total fouls - Berry 17, Whitworth 27. Technicals - None. A - 100.

Utah Valley 96, North Idaho 91

In the Las Vegas Tournament, the Cardinals (6-4) dropped a second-round men’s game to their Scenic West Conference rival.