Whitworth senior Stephen Behil coming up clutch for Pirates in senior season

It was the kind of moment that any basketball player dreams about.

But for Stephen Behil, a senior forward on the Whitworth men’s basketball team, it was a long time coming.

A forced turnover and a fastbreak layup allowed Pacific to tie it up at 79-all against the Pirates with seven seconds left in a tightly contested Northwest Conference matchup in early January.

Behil took the inbound pass, quickly dribbling up the floor and expecting a timeout to be called, but a defender came from behind to poke the ball away. Luckily, it rolled to a teammate, who dished it back to Behil.

Just like how he drew it up in the driveway as a kid – Behil took one dribble before rising up for an off-balance, flailing jumper over a defender. As he crashed to the floor, the shot dropped – nothing but net – and brought the fans in the Whitworth Fieldhouse to their feet with a roar.

“It was a surreal moment, being able to live that out,” Behil said. “It was just cool to experience that moment, when my teammates were crashing over me and tackling me after the game-winner. That was pretty surreal, pretty awesome.”

Behil said the shot was his first game-winning buzzer beater of his basketball career.

It has been a season of many firsts for Behil, who has worked his way to becoming the offensive focal point and a valuable leader for a Pirate squad that is storming through conference play with a championship in its sights.

“He’s a super hard worker and really loves the game,” Whitworth coach Damion Jablonski said of Behil. “I expected him to get to where he’s at, honestly.”

For the Camas, Washington, native, it has been a story of patience, hard work and development up to this point.

In each of his four years as a Pirate, Behil has played a role in Jablonski’s rotation.

“Basically, my freshman and sophomore years, I was just learning from the upperclassmen what it means to be at Whitworth and how to play the right way and just to work hard,” he said.

Valued from day one for his 3-point prowess, he came off the bench for two seasons before joining the starting lineup as a junior.

As a starter, Behil made a developmental leap in several aspects of his game, but was still mainly looked to for his outside shooting. As a junior, the 6-foot-7 forward took 160 3-pointers – over six per game – and made them at a 37% clip.

When the Pirates graduated their top two scorers from last year, All-Northwest Conference first-team selections Jake Holtz and Garrett Long, questions remained about who would take the reins of a Whitworth program that has a long-held standard of success.

Behil entered the offseason with one thing in mind – it was his turn to lead the way.

“I just told the guys in the offseason, ‘Hey, if we want to keep Whitworth’s reputation up, we all have to put in work,’ ” he said.

Behil wasted no time. He worked out three times a day, focusing on ball handling, finishing at the rim and improving his game as a whole. He embraced feedback from wherever it came.

The results speak for themselves. With higher usage and greater responsibility, Behil leads the team in scoring, at nearly 17 points per game, and rebounding, with over seven boards per game.

“I think this year, you’re really seeing the fruits of all the work he put in,” Jablonski said. “He’s done a great job of finding other ways to affect the game besides being a 3-point shooter. The way that he’s been able to rebound the basketball, play much better defense and also score at different levels. His midrange game has become pretty elite.

“Those have all added up to his ability to affect the game and you really see him being a force.”

Behil has taken on his role as a leader seriously, shedding a somewhat reserved demeanor to speak out with teammates to provide accountability, encouragement and motivation.

“(My teammates) really pushed me to become the player that I have been so far,” Behil said. “I think it’s also nice knowing that your coaching staff and your teammates have your back and trust you to make some big-time plays and have the ball in your hands a little more.”

But the most important part of success to him – team success – has more than materialized as well.

After dropping three close games against respectable programs in nonconference play, Whitworth has just one blemish since – a loss to Pacific last week. With just weeks left in the regular season, the Pirates stand atop the Northwest Conference with a 10-1 record and seem poised to take the top seed into the postseason tournament.

In his final year as a Pirate, Behil, a marketing major, hopes to continue his playing career after college, possibly overseas. But he has some business to take care of first.

“I just think our team is able to make a deep run in the tournament,” Behil said. “Our team has the skillsets, not only offensively, but defensively. We have great size to compete with anyone, but then we also have great guard and wing play to provide some great scoring.

“In general, the thing that separates our team and why I think we can go so far – we’re all just so close with each other, we’re all brothers on the team.”