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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Whitworth uses winning formula

Correspondent

Whitworth liked the game plan the first time around, so it only made sense to implement it again when given the next opportunity.

The Pirates flustered Willamette and its leading scorer, Cameron Mitchell, and Whitworth made several key buckets in the waning minutes to escape with a 77-65 victory Friday night in a Northwest Conference men’s basketball game at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Whitworth (16-4, 8-3 NWC) completed a season sweep of the Bearcats (9-9, 5-6) and remained tied with Lewis & Clark for second place in the conference. In their first meeting, a 69-68 win at Willamette, Mitchell fouled out with just nine points.

Friday, Calvin Jurich scored a career-high 27 points and hauled down 13 rebounds for Whitworth. Tim Sellereit contributed 19 points, including a pair of 3-pointers during a game-clinching 11-0 run in the final 3 minutes.

“I felt like the seniors weren’t going to let us lose this game,” Pirates coach Jim Hayford said. “That starts with Cal, and Tim Sellereit made some big shots to give us some separation.”

Mitchell entered the game averaging almost 17 points a game for Willamette, but he was saddled with foul trouble almost from the opening tip. Whitworth’s Nate Montgomery challenged Mitchell on three straight possessions to begin the game, and the referees rewarded the Pirates center with a pair of favorable calls to send Mitchell to the bench.

Mitchell picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first 2 minutes of the second half, and he finished with seven points in only 10 minutes.

“Coming in we knew Mitchell is a force inside,” Jurich said. “We wanted to go right at him, and Nate did a great job of that.”

“You get a player like that to play only 10 minutes, that’s a good thing,” Hayford said. “They’re not nearly as good a team without him, so we thought, ‘What can we do to go right at him.’ ”

Montgomery finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for Whitworth, which trailed 62-61 before the 11-point spurt gave the Pirates the lead for good.

Kyler McClary, the Bearcats’ second-leading season scorer, finished with 23 points and seven rebounds.

Whitworth’s Clay Gebbers was involved in a collision 1½ minutes into the game and laid motionless on the floor for a couple of minutes before walking off with assistance from team trainers. Hayford said Gebbers may have suffered a concussion, and his status for tonight’s home game against Linfield is uncertain.

Linfield defeated Whitworth 88-79 last month, and Jurich said he’s eager for the rematch.

Salt Lake 79, North Idaho 78: In a game in which the lead changed hands 13 times, it was the Bruins, ranked No. 8 in the country, who came out on top with a victory over the Cardinals (20-3, 5-3 Scenic West) at Salt Lake City.

The Bruins (20-2, 7-1) got 24 points from DJ Wright. The 15th-ranked Cardinals had four players in double figures, including Renado Parker (20) and Melvin Jones (19).

The teams play again today.