SPOKANE, Wash. – JT McDermott scored a career-high 28 points to lead Whitworth to a 91-67 win over visiting George Fox in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Friday night.
The Pirates improved to 19-4 overall and 12-3 in the NWC. With a win over Lewis & Clark on Saturday, the Bucs would share the 2022 NWC men's basketball title with Pacific Lutheran (18-6, 13-3) and, perhaps also, Linfield, after Linfield defeated league-leading PLU 72-64 in the Lutes' regular season finale on Friday night. The Wildcats (16-6, 12-3) finish at home against Willamette on Saturday.
Whitworth came out fast, taking a 13-6 lead on a basket by Jake Holtz. After a steal by Jojo Anderson, Miguel Lopez scored for a 20-11 advantage. George Fox (11-13, 6-9 NWC) came back thanks to hot shooting from three-point range. James Moore immediately cut the lead to six with a three and Adam Damian hit from long range to get the Bruins within 28-25. Zac Schmerber's jumper gave GFU its first lead of the game at 29-28, capping a 7-0 spurt. The Bruins still led 34-33 when Whitworth closed the half on an 11-0 run. Lopez started the run with a put-back basket, while Jake Holtz hit his first three-pointer of the season. McDermott scored twice in the run to give the Pirates a 44-34 lead at halftime. Whitworth made 54.5% (18-33) from the field in the first half, but GFU was 7-13 (53.8%) from beyond the arc. McDermott scored 14 in the first half and Schmerber had 13 for the Bruins.
After Whitworth hit the opening basket of the second half, Austin Clark nailed back-to-back three-pointers to get George Fox within 46-40. The Bruins were still within 53-47 when the Pirates began to pull away, sparked by a three-pointer by Garrett Paxton and a three-point play by McDermott that increased the margin to 59-47. Whitworth led by double figures the rest of the way. Leading 68-55 halfway through the first half, the Pirates held the Bruins scoreless for nearly four minutes to go up 74-55 on another basket by McDermott. McDermott's final basket was a three-pointer that gave Whitworth its first 20-point lead (79-59).
McDermott was 12 of 17 from the floor to surpass his previous career high of 27 against Puget Sound in January. Holtz had 15 points and nine rebounds, each one short of his career high in those categories. Paxton added ten points. Lopez finished with 11 rebounds to help Whitworth outboard the Bruins 46-25. The Pirates finished the game 33-61 (54.1%) from the field, including 10-18 (55.6%) from three-point range. Whitworth had 19 assists on 33 baskets.
Schmerber finished with 20 points to lead the Bruins, while Damian had 11 points off the bench. George Fox finished 27-62 (43.5%) from the field, 11-23 (47.8%) from beyond the arc. The Bruins were only 2-10 from the free throw line.
