Lewis and Clark loses touch at Whitworth

Lewis and Clark College entered the Whitworth Fieldhouse on Saturday night having hit 24 of 58 3-point attempts – both records for the men’s basketball program– in an overtime loss Friday at Whitman.

The Pioneers promptly missed their first five long-range attempts, hit just 11 of 40 overall and were blown out 89-61 by the Pirates before 525 spectators.

Maybe their shooting arms were tired.

“I was really pleased with our defense especially early,” said coach Jim Hayford, whose Pirates raised their overall record to 9-4, 3-1 in the Northwest Conference. “There was only once early where we didn’t follow our scouting report, and we called time out and took care of it. We wanted to trap their shooter off the high screens, and go under the rest, and we did that.”

“We had a great scouting report and followed it,” echoed 6-foot-4 forward George Tucker, a senior in his second year after transferring from Diablo Valley College in California. “We came out flat last night, but we got going and it carried over. We wanted to play with intensity for 40 minutes.

“Against them you have to extend out and get a hand in the shooter’s face. We did a good job of that. It’s important, because 3-pointers killed us last year.”

While the Pioneers (4-8, 0-4) overall were trying to bomb away, Whitworth was displaying its intensity inside.

Center Kevin Hasenfus, a junior college transfer who came in averaging 10 points, led the Pirates with a career-high 20, many on layups made possible by penetration from Tucker and Lance Pecht (seven combined assists).

“We know when we get in the lane they are going to collapse on us,” Tucker said. “All we have to do is dump it, and then Kevin will do the work.”

As can be expected in a game that was over at halftime – Whitworth led 49-20 – the second half got a little ragged. LC’s 25-year coach Bob Gailliard earned a technical with 12 minutes, 34 seconds left, and guard Nick Thierry earned a seat with an intentional forearm to Steve Stockton’s face 11 minutes later. A host of Pirates scored.

Tucker added 16, Pecht 12 and Bryan Williams and reserve James Jones had 11 each. Senior reserve Antonio McClinon put the exclamation point on the win with a powerful dunk in traffic – he was knocked to the floor but still finished – with 3:28 left.