SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's basketball team opens the second half of its Northwest Conference schedule on the road in Oregon this coming weekend. The Pirates play at Pacific University on Friday (8:00 pm) and at Willamette University on Saturday (6:00 pm). Both games are scheduled as the second halves of women's-men's doubleheaders and can be heard live in Spokane on KSBN 1230 am and on the internet at KSBN.net.
Check the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for other live links to this week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (12-5 overall, 8-0 NWC) finished off the first half of the NWC schedule with home victories over Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound, extending the current winning streak to seven. The Pirates are 8-0 in the conference for the first time since starting 10-0 in the 2015-16 season.
Friday's game with Puget Sound was postponed to Sunday because of regional winter weather that impacted travel from the west side of the state.
After falling behind by five points (7-2) in the opening minutes of the game, Whitworth went on to outscore PLU 44-23 over the rest of the first half on the way to an 85-64 win over the Lutes on Saturday night. The Pirates made 59% (33-56) of their shots from the floor and 58% (11-19) of their three-pointers. Whitworth's largest lead was 80-56 with 2:24 to play. Jojo Anderson made 9-13 from the floor, including both of his three-point attempts, to finish with 23 points. Jake Holtz added 11 and Ben Nyquist scored a career-high 10 points off the bench. Ten different Pirates scored points in the balanced effort, including nine points and four assists from Diego Jaques off the bench. Ty Edwards led the team with eight rebounds.
Whitworth had a closer game against Puget Sound on Sunday afternoon, winning 79-70. There were 12 ties and eight lead changes over the first 32 minutes before the Pirates used an 11-2 run to turn a 59-58 deficit with 7:45 to play into a 69-61 lead with 2:54 to go. After making only 36% (12-33) of its shots in the first half, Whitworth made 62% (13-21) in the second. Anderson led the way again with 22 points, including 10 of 11 from the free throw line. Sullivan Menard scored 20, including 16 in the first half. Holtz added 17, 13 of which came after halftime, and led the team with six rebounds. As a team the Pirates went 24 of 28 (86%) from the free throw line.
The Opponents: Pacific University is 9-8 overall and 3-5 at the halfway point of the NWC schedule. The Boxers are two games out of fourth place in the standings in the chase for a conference tournament spot. Last week Pacific fell 64-59 at Linfield before bouncing back to beat Lewis & Clark 77-63. Head coach Justin Lunt is in his fifth year at Pacific but is the dean of NWC basketball coaches in his 17th year in the league. The Boxers average 82.1 points per game and allow 72.7 points per contest. Junior guard Lucas Winkler fills the stat sheet with averages of 16.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game. Junior forward Devin Fortune contributes 14.5 points and 7.2 boards per contest. On December 2nd Whitworth pulled out a 67-65 win over Pacific in Spokane when Jerry Twenge scored a basket just before the buzzer. Sullivan Menard led the Bucs with 18 points.
Willamette University is the NWC's most improved team at the halfway point. At 10-6 overall and 5-3 in the conference under first year head coach Michael Lenahan, the Bearcats have a chance to post the first winning conference record since the 2007-08 season. Willamette leads the league in scoring average at 90.1 ppg and allows 80.8 ppg. Junior guard Josiah Frank has not started a game yet, but he still leads the team in scoring average at 16.4 points per game. Graduate student Jack Boydell adds 15.7 points per contest and ranks second in the NWC in both three-point percentage (44.7%) and in three-pointers made per game (2.5). Whitworth defeated Willamette 101-71 on December 1st in the conference opener for both schools. The Pirates had five players in double figures and made 61.3% of their field goals.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz seems to do everything for the Pirates in 2023-24. He averages 16.1 points per game, which is currently second on the team and ranks fifth in the NWC. He also leads the Pirates in rebounding (6.6 per game, fourth in the NWC), assists (44) and steals (27). He is making 55.7% of his field goal attempts (fourth in the NWC). Holtz has 941 points as a Pirate and is on pace to become the latest Whitworth player to reach 1,000 for a career.
Welcome Back Jojo: Jojo Anderson's return to action in 2023-24 has been as hoped-for by Pirate fans. He leads the team lead in scoring average (17.2 points per game, second in the NWC) and scored a career-high 33 points in a win over Northwest University on November 21st, the third-highest single game total in the NWC this season. He's made 47.3% of his field goals and adds 2.6 assists per game. The guard from nearby Mt. Spokane HS missed the 2022-23 season with an injury.
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge, in his fifth year as a Pirate, averages 6.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Twenge has stepped up in a variety of ways throughout his Whitworth career., at different times leading the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. His latest highlight was the game-winning basket vs. Pacific on December 2nd with 1.4 seconds to play.
The Long Road Home: Sullivan Menard's road to Whitworth was a long one. A Gatorade Player of the Year as a high school senior in Alaska, Menard initially went to NCAA Div. I DePaul (Ill.) before transferring to Western Wyoming CC, where he suffered a season-ending knee injury that prevented him from playing the 2021-22 season in Spokane. Now Menard averages 13.8 points per game and leads the team in three-pointers (38, 38%). He adds 5.1 rebounds per contest. Menard is also a member of the Pirates' men's golf team.
Last Win vs. Ranked Team: Prior to the 74-71 win over 15th-ranked Elmhurst on December 30th, the Pirates' last victory over a ranked opponent was an 85-64 victory over St. Thomas (Minn.) in the Fieldhouse on Nov. 16, 2019.
Been a While: From Dec. 7 – 22, Whitworth lost four games in a row for the first time since the 2004-05 season when the Pirates finished 13-11 under head coach Jim Hayford.
Pirates picked to win: Whitworth is listed at the top of the 2023-24 Northwest Conference coaches poll with six first place votes and 62 points. The Pirates are coming off 18-10 record in 2022-23, including a second place finish NWC regular season and a conference tournament championship. Whitman, who Whitworth defeated in the NWC tournament championship game, is second in the poll with one first place vote and 53 points. Third place Puget Sound (50 points) got the other two first place votes.
Start a New Streak?: Whitworth's school record streak of consecutive seasons with at least 20 victories came to an end last season after 16 in a row. Prior to that streak, the most 20-win seasons in a row the Pirates had ever had was two (on three different occasions). The NCAA statistics office granted waivers for streak records that were interrupted by Covid-19 in 2020-21. Whitworth's streak of 20-win seasons was the longest in all of NCAA Division III at the time.
Nearly Two Decades of Dominance: Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (over 17 seasons) the Pirates are 420-95 (.815), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 219 of its last 248 (.883).
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 218-27 (.889) 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 119-38 (.758) away from home, 90-26 (.776) 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 ninth 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 13th season on the Pirate coaching staff in 2023-24, and his fifth as head coach of the Pirates. His record was 76-26 as Whitworth's head coach heading into this season. Jablonski has led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III tournament three times in his previous four 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 play a split schedule next week, with a Tuesday game at Whitman and a Saturday home contest against Lewis & Clark.
