By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's basketball team wraps up the 2025 regular season with road matchups against Whitman (6:00pm) on Tuesday and Linfield on Saturday (4:00pm). Both games are scheduled as the first half of men's-women's doubleheaders.
Check the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for live links to this week's games.
The Pirates: The 15th ranked Pirates (21-2 overall, 12-2 NWC) extended their winning streak to nine and claimed a Northwest Conference title with two wins last week. The Bucs will host the NWC Tournament as the highest seed.
Whitworth handled Pacific (Ore.) 84-65 on Friday. Neither team could separate early in the game until the Pirates went on a 15-4 run late in the first half. Jake Holtz led the offense in the first half with 17 points as the Bucs went to halftime with a 46-34 advantage. Garrett Long sparked another Whitworth run that pushed the lead to 19 seven minutes into the second half. Pacific fought back to eight after a scoring flurry from Devin Fortune, but the Pirates responded with another 9-0 run to put the game out of reach. Whitworth shot 51.7% (31-60) from the floor and outrebounded the Boxers 47-28. Long and Holtz each finished with 23 points to lead Whitworth.
On Saturday, the Pirates beat George Fox 92-87 on senior night to secure the NWC title. The Bruins made nine of their first 13 shots to start the game and led 20-15 midway through the first half. Whitworth closed the gap with equally impressive shooting numbers and eventually opened an eight-point lead after Garrett Long hit a floater. The Bucs went to halftime with a seven-point lead and shot 54.8% from the floor. The second half was a game of runs as GFU cut the lead the three before the Pirates pushed it back out to nine. The Bruins again fought back and took a 64-63 lead with eleven minutes to go, but Whitworth followed that up with a Caden Bateman-led run of their own to stretch the lead to 12 with eight minutes to go. GFU clawed back to 88-87 but missed two free throws with a chance to take the lead with a minute to play. On the other end, Jake Holtz found Ben Nyquist in the corner for a three-pointer that put the put the game to bed and named the Pirates NWC champions. Whitworth shot 51.6% (33-64) from the field and dominated the paint (50-28). Holtz led the Pirates with 22 points, while Garrett Long had 17 and Ty Edwards scored 14. Bateman scored all 11 of his points after halftime.
The Opponents: Whitman (10-13, 8-6 NWC) hosts Whitworth in the second Battle of Whits after splitting a pair of games last week. The Blues fell 99-78 to George Fox before beating Pacific 76-69. Whitman has lost six of its last eight games dating back to the first matchup with Whitworth on January 21st, a game the Pirates won 69-64. The Blues are a strong defensive team and have allowed a second-best 68.3 points per game to conference opponents. The Rebound battle will be a number to watch as Whitman ranks eighth in rebounds during conference play (32.5) while Whitworth paces the conference at 37.5. Junior guard Ali Efe Isik leads the Blues in scoring (13.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.7). Senior guard Isaiah Amato is a player to watch as he scored a season-high 25 points in the first Battle of Whits in Spokane. The Pirates have won five straight games against the Blues dating back to 2023.
Linfield (7-16, 4-10 NWC) closes the season at home against Whitworth looking to end on a high note after losing its last six games. Last week, the Wildcats fell to Willamette 80-62 and Lewis & Clark 80-71. Their last win came against Whitman on January 25th, who Linfield will host on Friday. The Wildcats are second in the conference in assists per game (14.7) but rank eighth in scoring against conference opponents (70.8). Sophomore guard Cade Collins is the only Linfield player to average in double figures (12.9 ppg) and he is second on the team in rebounding (3.7). Senior guard Josh Ryan leads the team with 2.1 assists per game to go with his seven points per game. Whitworth holds a four-game winning streak against the Wildcats, including a 77-62 victory on January 24th this season.
NWC Standings: Whitworth (12-2 NWC) locked down the top spot in the conference standings over the weekend. Pacific Lutheran (9-5) now stands alone in second place while Lewis & Clark and Whitman are both 8-6 and tied for third. Puget Sound and George Fox are each 7-7 and still alive in the NWC Tournament race. Pacific (5-9), Linfield (4-10) and Willamette (3-11) round out the standings.
Whitworth will host the NWC Tournament as the #1 seed on February 28th and March 1st.
Starting Hot: The Pirates finished their nine game non-conference schedule unbeaten for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Whitworth's 9-0 start was its longest winning streak since the 2015-16 season, when the Pirates won 19 straight games to start the season, won the NWC tournament and finished the season with a 26-2 overall record
During the Pirates' win streak, they posted an impressive 49.1% field goal percentage and a 17.4 average scoring margin, each ranking first in the NWC. During that stretch, Whitworth also ranked first in the NWC in three-point shooting at 39%.
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. This season he is second in the NWC in scoring at 16.5 points per game while posting 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and one steal per game. He has been named NWC men's basketball Student-Athlete of the Week twice this season. He has scored 1,499 points during his Whitworth career as he continues to stuff the stat sheet and be problematic for opposing defenses. With 22 points against Goerge Fox on February 15th, Holtz moved to ninth on the Pirate men's basketball all-time scoring list.
Long Time Coming: After two seasons at Carroll College and an injury riddled 2023-24 season, senior Garrett Long is coming into his own as a leader at point guard for the Pirates. Long showed his potential after four starts in the 2024 postseason after being inserted into the starting lineup due to an injury. He posted 12 points in the NWC Final against Whitman and had 11 points and seven rebounds at Cal Lutheran in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Now in the full-time starting point guard role, Long is third in the NWC in scoring at 16.2 points per game to go along with 4.6 rebounds, and a team-leading 3.5 assists per game. He also paces the NWC in assist/turnover ratio (2.3). In the win over Cal Lutheran on November 21st, he scored a career-high 29 points on 11-16 shooting. Long also leads the Pirates' effort to pressure opposing ballhandlers on defense, grabbing 1.4 steals per game.
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 12.3 points per game on 39.4% shooting from beyond the arc. Ty Edwards has made 72 straight starts for Whitworth and is posting 6.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 56.6% from the field.
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 taken advantage of his opportunities in place of injured Diego Jaques, averaging 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game at the off-guard position. Colton Looney is shooting 50% from beyond the arc while averaging 7.5 points and 2.4 rebounds. Caden Bateman, a transfer from the University of Montana, provides size and athleticism off the bench and averages 3.3 rebounds per contest.
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 447-101 (.816), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 232 of its last 263 (.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 227-28 (.893) 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 130-41 (.760) away from home, 101-27 (.789) in true road games.
Tune in: Whitworth's home men's basketball games are streamed live at whitworthpirates.com from the "watch link" for home games and the "listen link" for road games 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. An Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Famer, 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 116-37 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 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. 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.
With the win over Belhaven on December 6th, Damion Jablonski earned his 100th win as a head coach.
Coming Up Next: The Pirates will host the Northwest Conference Tournament semifinals on February 28th and the finals on March 1st at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
