Whitworth men have reinforcements to once again battle for NWC supremacy

For the third straight year, the Whitworth men’s basketball team will need to regroup after losing its top two scorers from the previous season.

The turnover in offensive firepower – typically a combination of graduation and players transferring out – has not come at the cost of success, as the Pirates continue to flourish atop the Northwest Conference year after year.

Head coach Damion Jablonski, in preparation for his 15th season at the helm, does not expect this upcoming season to be any different.

“Every year is a new year, whether you had a successful one before or not,” Jablonski said. “I do think you have to approach every year like something new. Obviously our program has high expectations, so there’s a good road map of what it takes to be successful.”

While it will take some time to iron out lineups, the Pirates still return a number of key players that will help make up an experienced group.

To put points on the board, Jablonski and the staff will lean heavily on seniors Stephen Behil and Colton Looney – two reliable 3-point marksmen. Behil shot better than 37% from deep on 160 attempts last year in a starting role, while Looney hit a staggering 52% on 94 attempts.

The pair are part of an eight-man senior class, most of which started their college careers at Whitworth and patiently waited for opportunities at bigger roles.

“I think even last year, some of them were still playing behind some really great guys in front of them,” Jablonski said. “I’ve had a lot of belief and trust in this class, so it’s exciting now to see more of them being able to blossom into what I knew their potential was when I recruited them.”

Whitworth will have to compensate for the loss of two first-team All-Northwest Conference players – Jake Holtz, a five-year do-it-all guy who was the engine for last year’s unit, and Garrett Long, a steady hand at point guard. The Pirates also lost Diego Jaques, another guard who is transitioning into a student assistant role for the coaching staff.

“It’s definitely by committee, but we got a lot of good shooting wings that I think will get more opportunities to touch the ball,” Jablonski said of overcoming the loss of key players.

The Pirates should have plenty of reinforcements in the backcourt. Senior Ben Nyquist and sophomore Ben Fried played important roles in key moments last season, while Jablonski also added two transfers – Kobe Parlin, a junior guard from Central Washington, and Brian Caldera, a graduate guard from Seattle Pacific.

While Whitworth will have good length at the wing spots, the Pirates are less sturdy down low and will rely on 6-7 seniors Ty Edwards and Caden Bateman to crash the boards and hold down the frontcourt that lost some rebounding and toughness with the graduation of Holtz.

After cruising through most of conference play in the 2024-2025 season, the Pirates appeared destined for a fourth-straight Northwest Conference title before bowing out in an upset loss to Lewis & Clark in the semifinals. The team hopes to regain its title-winning ways.

“I think last year, we were a little bit predictable late in the season,” Jablonski said. “One of my goals is to take that in mind and hopefully help build our team throughout this season so that we can be a little bit more free-flowing when it gets later in the year.”

Jablonski pieced together another strong nonconference schedule, which includes trips to Minnesota and California to face off against a number of high-level Division III programs.

The nonconference slate should help prepare the Pirates to again contend atop the conference.

“I do think we bring back a lot of core contributors in comparison to a lot of the league,” Jablonski said. “There was a good amount of turnover. So I do think that we’re a pretty experienced roster that should stack up with another couple teams in our conference that have decent experience.”