PARKLAND, Wash. – Freshman Diego Jaques made a free throw with 1.4 seconds to play to lift visiting Whitworth to an 81-80 overtime win over Pacific Lutheran in a tense Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Saturday night at Olson Auditorium.
The Pirates (4-4 overall, 1-1 NWC) rallied from a 13-point first half deficit in a match-up of 2022 NWC co-champions. The Lutes dropped to 2-4, 0-2 with their fourth straight loss.
Jaques stole an errant inbounds pass after a time out that PLU called following Rowan Anderson's game-tying three-pointer with 3.7 seconds left. He drove toward the basket and was fouled by Jordan Thomas. Jaques missed the first, but swished the second for the winning points. The Lutes led 78-74 with 22 seconds to play, but could not close out the Pirates.
Whitworth suffered through a foul-plagued first half, which limited starters Anderson and Michael Smith to less than eight minutes each. Leading 10-6, the Pirates watched the Lutes go on a 19-2 run to open up a 25-12 lead. Sam Noland hit back-to-back three-pointers to cap the rally. Whitworth fought back to cut the lead to 35-31, but the Lutes got the final two baskets of the half for a 41-33 lead.
Both teams played tough defense over the first four minutes of the second half, limiting each team to only one basket through the first media timeout. The Pirates finally clawed back to within 49-48 on JT McDermott's basket, however PLU scored six straight to go up 55-48 on Sean McCurdy's three-pointer. Michael Smith's fast break basket finally tied the game 60-60 with 3:29 to play. Smith scored the final five points of regulation for the Bucs, all at the free throw line, sending the game to overtime 67-67.
Noland's free throws with 22 seconds left gave PLU a 78-74 lead, but Smith hit a three-pointer in traffic to pull the Pirates within one. Jackson Reisner made two more free throws for the Lutes, but Anderson answered with a long three from the top of the key to tie the game and set up the game-winning sequence for Jaques.
Jake Holtz led Whitworth with a career-high 22 points, to go along with eight rebounds. McDermott finished with 15 points, 13 after halftime, and a team-high nine rebounds. Anderson and Smith scored a dozen points apiece.
The Pirates struggled from three-point range for the first 36 minutes of the game, missing their first 13 attempts until Anderson hit one. Whitworth finished the game 30-58 (51.7%) from the field, despite going 4-19 (21%) from beyond the arc.
Thomas led PLU with 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals. McCurdy posted his own double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. Noland scored 17 for the Lutes.
Whitworth will take a break for final exams before hosting Saint John's (Minn.) and Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) in the Quality Inn Oakwood Classic on Dec. 20-21.
