SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's basketball team closes the first half of the Northwest Conference basketball schedule on the road at Willamette (Friday, 8:00 pm) and at Linfield (Saturday, 6:00 pm) this weekend. Both contests can be heard live on KSBN radio (1230 am) as part of women's-men's doubleheaders.
Check the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for other live links to this weekend's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (10-5 overall, 5-1 NWC) moved into a share of first place in the NWC standings with a pair of wins last week. The Pirates extended their winning streak to five in a row.
Whitworth controlled the final 38 minutes of the game on both ends of the floor in a 72-58 win at Whitman last Tuesday night, handing the hosts their first conference loss. Three straight turnovers allowed the Blues to jump to a 7-0 lead in the first 90 seconds before Whitworth went on a 16-0 run and never trailed again. The Pirates shot 48%, held the Blues to 39% and outrebounded the conference's best rebounding team 33-29. JT McDermott posted game-highs of 18 points and nine rebounds to lead the Bucs. Jerry Twenge added 13, while Rowan Anderson had a dozen points.
Whitworth had a stiff challenge from visiting George Fox on Saturday night, leading most of the way before holding on for a 78-74 victory. The Pirates led 73-60 with four minutes to play. Whitworth outrebounded the Bruins 54-28, offsetting a 12-2 deficit in turnovers. Michael Smith scored 21 points, only one point shy of his season-best total. JT McDermott added 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for his second double-double of the season. Twenge grabbed a career-high 14 boards, while Rowan Anderson added 13 points.
The Opponents: Willamette is 5-9 overall and 1-5 in the NWC heading into the weekend. The Bearcats lost 102-86 at Pacific Lutheran on Friday night, and fell 106-84 to Puget Sound at home on Saturday. Former Willamette player Kip Ioane is in his 14th season as head coach of the Bearcats and his 22nd season on the staff. Senior forward Jack Boydell leads the NWC in scoring average at 21.6 points per game. He makes 53% of his field goals and 44% of his three-point attempts and adds 5.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Sophomore guard Ryder Hsiung contributes 13.3 points per game and leads the team in three-point percentage (46%). Whitworth swept Willamette last season, winning 94-81 on the road and 102-89 at home.
Linfield is 5-9 overall and 2-4 in the NWC heading into Friday night's game against Whitman. The Wildcats earned a share of the 2022 NWC title, but had to overcome significant losses to graduation and key injuries this year. Last weekend Linfield lost 70-67 at Lewis & Clark on Friday and fell 76-71 at home to Puget Sound on Saturday. Sophomore guard Trey Bryant averages 15.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game this season. Senior guard Carson Bonine, a veteran of co-titles in 2020 and 2022, adds 9.9 points per game. Shanan Rosenberg, a two-time NWC Coach of the Year, is in his 10th season leading Linfield. The Pirates and Wildcats split last season. Whitworth won 90-43 in Spokane, while Linfield won 71-65 in McMinnville.
JT Mc "Does" it: JT McDermott (Gr.) was Whitworth's top scorer the last season and currently leads the team in scoring average (14.3 points per game). The starting post also leads the team in assists (46, 3.1 apg), blocks (11) and steals (20).
McDermott was a first team All-Northwest Conference honoree in 2021-22 after he averaged 14.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Michael Smith, a former high school teammate of McDermott, has transferred to Whitworth from Sonoma State (NCAA DII), where he started 47 games in two seasons. Smith currently averages 12.9 points per game.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz is second on the team in scoring (13.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg). Holtz is making 58.0% of his field goals (third in the NWC).
The Point Man: Rowan Anderson is in his third season as Whitworth's starting point guard. He averages 8.8 points per game and is second on the team in assists (2.9 apg).
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge averages 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He now ranks second in the NWC in rebounding average. Twenge has stepped up in a variety of ways this season. Twenge has led the Pirates in scoring (25 vs. UMHB), rebounding (14 vs. George Fox), assists (twice, including 5 vs. CLU) and steals (twice, including 4 vs. PLU). He leads the team in three-point percentage (42%) and in free throw percentage (84.4%).
Pirates picked to win: Whitworth is listed at the top of the 2022-23 Northwest Conference coaches poll with seven first place votes and 63 points. The Pirates are coming off a 22-5 record in 2021-22, including a share of the NWC regular season title (13-3). Whitman, who Whitworth defeated in the NWC tournament championship game, is second in the poll with two first place votes and 56 points.
Sweet 16: With its win over Lewis & Clark in the 2021-22 regular season finale, Whitworth extended its school record for consecutive seasons with at least 20 victories to 16 in a row. Prior to this current streak, the most 20-win seasons in a row the Pirates had ever had was two (on three different occasions). The NCAA statistics office is granting waivers for streak records that were interrupted by Covid-19 in 2020-21.
Whitworth's streak of 20-win seasons is the current longest in all of NCAA Division III.
Best of the Decade: Whitworth University concluded the decade of 2010-11 through 2019-20 as the winningest program in NCAA Division III men's basketball, by winning percentage. The Pirates posted a record of 245-43 for a winning percentage of .851. In addition, Whitworth's winning percentage ranked fourth among the top schools in all of NCAA basketball, behind West Liberty (Div. II - .895), Lincoln Memorial (Div. II - .874) and Gonzaga (Div. I - .858). Two of the winningest men's basketball teams in the nation are located within six miles of each other.
The decade included three head coaches for the Pirates, beginning with Jim Hayford in 2010-11, continuing with Matt Logie for eight seasons and concluding with Damion Jablonski in 2019-20.
More Than A Decade of Dominance: Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (over 16 seasons) the Pirates are 400-85 (.825), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 203 of its last 228 (.890).
Home-Sweet-Home: Whitworth has been stellar in the Whitworth Fieldhouse since the 1990's. During the decade of the 1990s and 2000's Whitworth won more than 84% of its home games. However, since the beginning of the 2005-06 season, the Bucs are 206-22 (.903) at home.
The Pirates have had two home-court winning streaks of more than 40 games since 1990. A 41-game home court winning streak from early 2009 until December of 2011 was the second-longest in Pirate history. The school record for consecutive home victories is 43, beginning during the 1994-95 season and ending during the 1997-98 season.
Road Warriors: As good as Whitworth is at home, the Pirates have been almost as good away from the Whitworth Fieldhouse over the last decade. Since the start of the 11-12 season, Whitworth is 111-33 (.769) away from home, 83-24 (.775) in true road games.
On the Air Again: Whitworth's men's basketball games are once again carried live this season on KSBN 1230am in Spokane. The relationship between Pirate athletics and KSBN goes back to 1994, a span of more than 25 years. Bud Nameck is in his eighth season as the voice of Whitworth basketball. Nameck has more than 30 years of experience calling college basketball at Gonzaga University and Washington State.
The Coach: Damion Jablonski is in his 12th season on the Pirate coaching staff in 2022-23, and his fourth as head coach of the Pirates. His record was 58-16 as Whitworth's head coach heading into this season. Jablonski has led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III tournament twice in his previous three years, the only non-tournament year was due to Covid-19. His first year was a rousing success. He went 23-6, led the Pirates to a share of the Northwest Conference championship and to a pair of victories in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Bucs were slated to face top-ranked Swarthmore before the tournament was cancelled. Jablonski was named D3hoops.com West Region Coach of the Year and he coached Ben College to NWC Player of the Year and NABC All-America recognition. Whitworth went 12-5 during the COVID-19 season in 2020-21, including games against NCAA DI Montana, NCAA DII Seattle Pacific and NAIA playoff regular College of Idaho. Whitworth finished 22-5 overall and 13-3 in the NWC in 2021-22 to once again share the regular season title before winning the conference tournament.
Jablonski spent eight years as the top assistant at Whitworth, including six seasons with the title of Associate Head Coach. Over the course of his tenure as an assistant, the Bucs won 215 games, seven Northwest Conference titles and seven NWC tournament crowns. As the head recruiting coordinator, Jablonski was instrumental in continuing the Bucs' tradition of success by helping to recruit high quality student-athletes to Whitworth. His efforts over the past several years have included the addition of First Team All-American Kyle Roach, third team All-American and NWC Player of the Year Kenny Love and First Team All Northwest Conference selection Christian Jurlina.
Coming Up Next: Whitworth will open the second half of the NWC schedule at home next weekend against Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound.
