SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University will get a shot at first place Whitman on Tuesday night at 8:00 pm before returning home to host George Fox on Saturday night (6:00 pm). 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.
Tickets: Digital tickets are required for entrance to the Whitworth Fieldhouse for all fans. Tickets can be purchased in advance using the Hometown Ticketing App. Follow the Tickets link on the schedule for access. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for senior adults, non-Whitworth students and children. Whitworth students, as well as faculty and staff, get free admission by using an ID number.
The Pirates: Whitworth (8-5 overall, 3-1 NWC) continued stellar defensive play over the weekend with dominating victories at home over Lewis & Clark and Pacific (Ore.).
The Pirates steadily pulled away from L&C for a 78-57 win on Friday night. The Pirates dominated the boards, outrebounding the Pioneers 51-28. Whitworth scored 44 points in the paint, getting good looks inside throughout the night. The Bucs held L&C to 6-26 shooting from three-point range, 1-9 in the second half. Four players hit double figures in points for Whitworth, led by Michael Smith and Jake Holtz with 15 apiece. JT McDermott added 14 and Sullivan Menard scored 11 off the bench. Jerry Twenge grabbed nine boards to lead the team.
Whitworth continued the defensive domination on Saturday, defeating Pacific (Ore.) 91-48. The Pirates held the Boxers to 1 of 20 shooting from three-point range, 0-10 in the second half. Whitworth nearly doubled up the Boxers in rebounding 43-23. The Pirates also put together one of their best shooting nights of the season, making 55% (29-53) from the floor and 48% (11-23) from beyond the arc. Holtz again led Whitworth in scoring with 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Menard put up 14 points, his Pirate career-high. Smith scored 11 points and Rowan Anderson finished with 10 points and three assists. Twenge led the Pirates in rebounding with 10, his career-best mark.
The Opponents: Whitman is off to an 11-2 start overall, 4-0 in the NWC. The Blues held off Pacific 79-69 on Friday before crushing Lewis & Clark 89-67 on Saturday. Whitman leads the NWC in both scoring margin (18.6 ppg) and rebounding margin (9.7 rpg). The Blues are getting healthier with the recent return of 2022 first team All-NWC guard Nikola Trifunovic. Junior G Xavier Lino, an honorable mention All-NWC selection last season, leads the team in scoring average (14.2 ppg). Senior guard Walter Lum posts 11.2 points per game and leads the team in assists (3.9 apg) and steals (21). John Lamanna is in his third season as head coach of the Blues. Whitworth split the regular season meetings with Whitman last season before defeating the Blues 85-59 in the NWC tournament championship game.
George Fox is 3-9 overall and 2-2 in the NWC heading into a game at Whitman on Friday night. The Bruins lost 107-99 to Puget Sound on Friday, but defeated Pacific Lutheran 85-76 on Saturday, both at home. George Fox leads the Northwest Conference in team three-point percentage (39.9). Sophomore guard Momo Stokes averages 15.6 points per game and makes 43% of his three-pointers. Senior guard Davon Walker adds 12.0 points and 3.8 assists per contest. Maco Hamilton is in his 11th season as the head coach at George Fox. Last season Whitworth rallied to defeat the Bruins 80-78 on the road, then won 91-67 in Spokane. The Pirates have won the last 17 games in the series.
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.
JT Mc "Does" it: JT McDermott (Gr.) was Whitworth's top scorer the last season and currently ranks second on the team in scoring average (14.1 points per game). The starting post also passes well (36 assists), leads the team in blocks (11) and steals (18).
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 12.7 points per game.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz currently leads Whitworth in scoring (14.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg). He is second in the Northwest Conference in rebounding average this season. Holtz is making 59.7% of his field goals (also second in the NWC).
The Point Man: Rowan Anderson is in his third season as Whitworth's starting point guard. He averages 8.2 points per game and leads the team in assists (3.1 apg).
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge, who averages 10.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, has stepped up in a variety of ways this season. Twenge has led the Pirates in scoring (25 vs. UMHB), rebounding (10 vs. Pacific), assists (twice, including 5 vs. CLU) and steals (twice, including 4 vs. PLU). He leads the team in three-point percentage (43.6%) and in free throw percentage (85.7%).
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 398-85 (.823), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 201 of its last 226 (.889).
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 205-22 (.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 110-33 (.769) away from home, 82-24 (.773) 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 finish out the first half of Northwest Conference play with games at Willamette and Linfield on January 20-21.
