SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's basketball team will travel to Pacific (Ore.) and Lewis & Clark for a pair of Northwest Conference games this weekend. Friday's game at Pacific is scheduled for 8:00 pm, while Saturday's game at L&C is scheduled for 6:00 pm. Both can be heard on KSBN 1230 am as the second half of a women's-men's doubleheader.
Check the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for other live links to this weekend's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (12-7 overall, 7-3 NWC) split at home with the Tacoma-area schools last weekend.
Visiting PLU built a 17-point lead in the opening minutes of the second half before Whitworth closed to within three points twice in the final six minutes. The Lutes kept their composure and held on for an 83-77 victory, PLU's first over Whitworth at the Fieldhouse since 1998. The Lutes made 58% of their shots from the floor, the second-highest total by a Pirate opponent this season. Sullivan Menard scored 14 off the bench for the Bucs. JT McDermott added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Michael Smith scored 11 points. The teams split the regular season series, each winning on the other's home floor.
Whitworth avoided a second straight home setback, and third in a row overall, with a dramatic 77-75 win over Puget Sound on Saturday. McDermott's 10-foot from the right wing as time expired lifted the Pirates into sole possession of second place in the conference standings. Whitworth made 52% of its shots from the field and had 18 assists on 29 made shots. The Bucs only committed six turnovers. Smith scored a career-high 30 points, making 12 of 16 shots from the field, including a four-point play with 1:12 to go. McDermott finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The Opponents: Pacific University is 9-10 overall and 4-6 in the NWC. The Boxers are aiming to end a four-game losing skid, that includes losses last week to Lewis & Clark (88-80 at home) and Linfield (68-53 away). Senior forward Jacob Bolger, who missed the first meeting between Pacific and Whitworth because of injury, leads his team in scoring average (14.8 ppg) and adds 5.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Lucas Winkler is the engine that drives the Boxers, leading his team in minutes (31.8 per game), assists (7.7 per game) and rebounds (6.3 per game) while averaging 10.1 points per contest. Whitworth won that first meeting between the Pirates and Boxers 91-48 with four players hitting double figures in scoring.
Lewis & Clark comes into the weekend 12-7 overall and 6-4 in the NWC, heading into a game on Friday against Whitman. The Pioneers are on a roll, having won five of their last six games, including wins over Pacific (88-80) and Willamette (94-83) last weekend. They lead the league in team three-point percentage (38.3) and are second in scoring average (83.3 points per game). Senior guard Brenden Patrick leads the NWC in scoring average (21.3 ppg) and adds 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals per contest. Senior guard Jack Henderson puts up 18.9 points per game and makes 41.6% of his three-pointers. Whitworth defeated L&C 78-57 in Spokane, led by Michael Smith and Jake Holtz, who had 15 points apiece.
JT Mc "Does" it: JT McDermott (Gr.) was Whitworth's top scorer the last season and currently leads the team in scoring average (14.2 points per game) this year. The starting post also leads the team in rebounds (6.5, tied for first), assists (58, 3.1 apg), blocks (12) and steals (29).
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 13.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz is third on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and third in rebounding (5.9 rpg). Holtz is making 57.6% of his field goals (second 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 (57, 3.0 apg).
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge averages 9.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, tied for the team lead in boards. 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 402-87 (.822), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 205 of its last 232 (.884).
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 207-23 (.900) 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 112-34 (.767) away from home, 84-25 (.771) 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 seventh season as the voice of Whitworth basketball. Nameck has more than 30 years of experience calling college basketball at Santa Clara, Gonzaga and Washington State. He has called more than 1,100 games on the radio during his career.
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 host Whitman on Tuesday (Feb. 7) and then heads back to Oregon to play at George Fox on Friday (Feb. 10).
