By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's basketball team travels to California to play two non-conference games against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponents this week. On Thursday the Pirates visit California Lutheran at 6:00 pm before taking on Caltech on Saturday at 4:00 pm.
Check the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for live links to this week's games. Please note that Cal Lutheran and Caltech will charge a fee to stream each game.
The Pirates: Whitworth (2-0) opened its season with two wins at home last week.
The Pirates used a 21-5 second half run to pull away from East Texas Baptist in Tuesday's 84-69 win. Whitworth shot 55.2% from the field and scored 52 points in the paint. Jake Holtz scored ten straight points in the second half enroute to a 26 point, eight rebound, and four assist performance. Garrett Long added 20 points, four rebounds and two steals for the Pirates, while Diego Jaques scored 14 on 6-8 shooting.
Whitworth cruised to another win after defeating visiting Benedictine 90-59 on Thursday. The Pirate defense shined as the Eagles were held to 35.6% shooting from the field and just 25% from deep. Whitworth outscored Benedictine 52-30 in the second half with the help of Colton Looney who finished with 17 points and three rebounds off the bench. Jake Holtz filled up the stat sheet with 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and three steals. Stephen Behil (14), Diego Jaques (13) and Garrett Long (10) also scored in double figures. The Pirates shot 50.7% from the field.
The Opponents: Cal Lutheran is 1-1 start to the season and ranked 24th in the D3hoops.com men's preseason poll. The Kingsmen finished last season with a 23-5 record and were defeated by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the SCIAC tournament championship. They started this season's schedule with two ranked opponents, losing to #16 Illinois Wesleyan 93-81 and defeating #9 Calvin 81-71. They are led by a host of seniors, including guard Devon Lewis who is coming off a 20-point game against Calvin. Senior Jake Martin looks to be a threat to score off the bench after posting 26 points in their last matchup. Whitworth defeated Cal Lutheran 78-73 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season.
Caltech hosts Whitworth after an 0-3 start to the season. The Beavers fell to UC Santa Cruz 96-46 on November 8th, before losing to fellow NWC foe George Fox 91-71 on November 9th and Occidental 81-54 on November 15th. Caltech is averaging 57 points per game this season and has a negative 32.3 scoring margin. Junior guard Noah Hicks leads the Beavers offense, averaging 21.3 points per game and 4 rebounds to start the season. Whitworth has played Caltech four times since 2007, winning each game by an average scoring margin of 32.25 points. The Pirates beat the Beavers 80-58 in their last meeting on November 20th, 2015.
Starting Hot: A win against Cal Lutheran on Thursday would give the Pirates their first 3-0 start since the 2019-20 season when they won five of their first six games. Whitworth finished that season with a 23-6 overall record and made the NCAA Div. III Sweet 16 before the remainder of the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
An Unstoppable Force: Jake Holtz, in his fifth year as a Pirate, is poised to build on a stellar 2023-24 season in which he averaged 16.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists and was named second team All-NWC. Through two games this season, he averages 20.5 points, eight rebounds, 4.5 assists, two steals and two blocks per game, leading the team in points, rebounds and assists per game. Holtz has scored over 1,100 points during his Whitworth career as he continues to stuff the stat sheet and be problematic for opposing defenses.
Junior Leaders: The Pirates continue to reload after losing key contributors from last season such as NWC Player of the Year Jojo Anderson and seniors Jerry Twenge and Sullivan Menard. This year, the load falls on the shoulders of five juniors who have stepped into impactful roles. Junior sharpshooter Stephen Behil stepped into the starting lineup and is averaging 13 points per game on 42.9% shooting from beyond the arc. Diego Jaques has proved to be a strong attacker through two games for the Pirates, averaging an efficient 13.5 points per game. Starting at the post for the second straight season is junior Ty Edwards whose five rebounds per game are second best on the team.
The production hasn't just come from the starting lineup, as Colton Looney and Ben Nyquist have demonstrated the depth of the Pirate rotation. Nyquist has three steals through two games and has been strong on the glass at the off-guard position. Colton Looney is coming off a team leading 17-point performance against Benedictine, showing his shooting ability with three three-pointers and a 70% shooting percentage from the field.
Pirates picked to win: Whitworth is listed at the top of the 2024-25 Northwest Conference coaches poll with six first place votes and 61 points. The Pirates are coming off a 20-9 record in 2023-24, tying Whitman for first place in the regular season but defeating them to win the conference tournament championship. Whitman is tied for second place with Puget Sound with 52 points each. Puget Sound received two first place votes to Whitman's one.
Nearly Two Decades of Dominance: Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (over 17 seasons) the Pirates are 430-99 (.812), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 217 of its last 246 (.882).
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 120-40 (.750) away from home, 91-26 (.777) in true road games.
Tune in: Whitworth's men's basketball games are streamed live at whitworthpirates.com from the "watch link" on the men's basketball schedule page. Pirate basketball games are called by Bud Nameck who is in his tenth 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 14th season on the Pirate coaching staff in 2024-25, and his sixth as head coach of the Pirates. He is 96-45 as Whitworth's head coach. Jablonski has led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III tournament in each season as the head coach, 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 canceled. 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. Jablonski is joined by assistant coaches Nick Sullivan, a former graduate assistant at Gonzaga, and Seth Hall, a former NWC Player of the Year at Pacific Lutheran.
Coming Up Next: Whitworth will be back in Spokane to host Belhaven (Miss.) and Hardin-Simmons on December 6th and 7th.
