Whitworth clinches share of title

Jim Hayford has known for days this wait was coming.

A win Friday night made it a little more tolerable.

Whitworth secured at least a share of the Northwest Conference regular-season men’s basketball title, cruising in the second half to an 81-66 victory over Willamette at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Hayford and the Pirates (22-3, 13-3) must await the result of one crucial game tonight before discovering if they’ll earn the conference’s all-important No. 1 seed in the conference’s postseason tournament.

Lewis & Clark defeated Puget Sound to remain a half-game behind Whitworth in the NWC standings and plays at George Fox tonight to determine the final seedings in the NWC tournament.

LC owns the tiebreaker over Whitworth, the 16th-ranked Division III team in the nation, and will claim the No. 1 seed and first-round bye with a victory tonight. That would force Whitworth to play third-seeded Puget Sound in a loser-out contest, and that game’s winner would face Lewis & Clark to determine the NWC’s automatic bid in the national tournament.

“It’s a tough league, and you’ve got to bring it every night,” Hayford said. “We’re in the position we’re in because we won at some places that UPS didn’t.”

Senior guard Bryan Williams said he and some teammates likely will keep track of the Lewis & Clark game online. He added he wants to secure the conference’s automatic bid and not seek an at-large berth to the national tournament.

“Whatever happens from here, we know we’ve got to win every game from here on out,” he said. “We don’t want to put our season in the hands of a selection committee.”

Whitworth scored 14 of the first 16 points of the second half to take over what had been a closely contested matchup against Willamette. Whitworth looked like a postseason-caliber team in the second half and held the Bearcats to one field goal the first 7 minutes to turn a one-point halftime lead into a 48-35 cushion.

“It was a sense of urgency, first and foremost,” Williams said. “We told each other we’re 20 minutes from a conference championship. It’s what we’ve worked for, and there are 20 minutes left. It’s now or never.”

Jon Young led four Whitworth players in double figures with 19 points. James Jones added 13, and Ryan Symes and Williamshad 10 apiece.

Ian Mansfield led Willamette with 13.

Gonzaga men’s coach Mark Few and his wife, Marcy, were honored at midcourt before the game for their charitable efforts to fight cancer. The Fews organized the BasketBALL and Golf Classic as part of the national Coaches vs. Cancer campaign and have raised more than $2.2 million the past five years, including more than $840,000 last year.

Hayford’s daughter, Jayme, who twice has survived bouts with leukemia, presented Marcy Few with an honorary Whitworth jersey. Whitworth president Bill Robinson gave the Fews a framed commendation acknowledging their efforts raising money and awareness in the community.

“When we started off our first year, our goal was $200,000,” Marcy Few said. “We didn’t know what to expect, but Spokane just rallied around it.”

•Nick Livi led five players in double figures with 20 points as the North Idaho thumped Colorado Northwestern 93-56 in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game in Coeur d’Alene.

Shawn Henderson tossed in 18 points off the bench and Zach Parks added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals (14-11, 6-9).

Women

Senior Alida Bower capped her Whitworth career with 25 points and 11 rebounds and powered the Pirates to a 74-57 victory over Willamette in the team’s season finale.

Bower and Cassie Snyder both made three 3-pointers, and Whitworth made 9 of 20 overall from beyond the arc. Susan McDaniel and Natalie Orrell scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Pirates.

Snyder buried a 3-pointer to give Whitworth a 20-19 lead with 6:20 left in the first half, and the Pirates never trailed again. Willamette closed within five in the second half (44-39), but Bower and Snyder combined for seven straight points over the next 3 minutes to put the game out of reach.

Whitworth finished its season 14-11 overall and 8-8 in the NWC. Willamette fell to 4-20, 2-13 in the NWC.

•Chelsea Mykines scored a game-high 16 points and Niki Scott added 12 points and 11 rebounds as North Idaho (18-7, 10-5) routed Colorado Northwestern 81-65 in a SWAC game in Coeur d’Alene.