By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates will host the Northwest Conference men's basketball Tournament this weekend looking to claim their fourth straight conference tournament championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
On Friday, February 28th, top-seeded Whitworth will battle Lewis & Clark at 8:00pm, following the first semifinal matchup of Pacific Lutheran and Whitman at 6:00pm.
Check the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for live links to this week's games.
Ticket Information: Prices for each night of the tournament are as follows: Adults ($12), Seniors and Children up to 17 ($6). Students from each participating school receive free admission with valid student ID. Game tickets may be purchased online through Whitworth's Hometown Tickets portal. Doors to the Fieldhouse will open at 4:30 p.m. each night.
The Pirates: The 21st ranked Pirates closed the regular season with a 22-3 overall record and 13-3 mark in the NWC after splitting their final two games.
Whitworth fell 79-63 at Whitman in the second half of the "Battle of Whits." The Blues played with physicality and slowed the Pirates down with their defensive intensity. Whitworth trailed early but used a 14-4 run to go ahead 27-23. Whitman responded and went into halftime with a 43-36 lead. The Bucs chipped away and cut the lead to four midway through the second half, but the Blues used a 16-0 run to put the game away and secure an upset win. Whitworth shot a season-low 33.8% from the field and turned the ball over 15 times. Jake Holtz led the Pirates with 19 points.
On Saturday, the Pirates closed the regular season with a narrow 72-71 win over Linfield. The Wildcats started hot and made seven of their first nine shots resulting in an eventual 26-12 lead. Whitworth punched back with a 20-2 run that included six three-pointers before trailing by two at halftime. Midway through the second half, the Pirate defense held Linfield scoreless for over seven minutes of action, allowing them to score 14 unanswered points and go ahead 68-61 late in the game. The Wildcats responded with a run of their own before a foul and three-made free throws put Linfield up by one with under 10 seconds to go. Garett Long took the inbounds pass for the Pirates, drove to his right and hit a floater on the baseline for the win. Colton Looney led the Whitworth offense with 22 points, 17 of them coming in the first half. Long had 14 with four assists and Caden Bateman had seven rebounds. Whitworth shot 49.1% (28-57) from the floor.
NWC Tournament Info: The 2025 Northwest Conference playoffs consist of a four-team tournament hosted by regular season champion Whitworth. The semifinals are on Friday, February 28th, and the championship game is on Saturday, March 1st. The 2025 NWC Tournament will determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
NWC Tournament History: The 2025 NWC tournament is the 28th conference tournament since the NWC (then the NCIC) first began a league playoff in 1994. This will be Whitworth's 27th appearance, the most of any conference school. Heading into this weekend, the Pirates are 34-10 all-time in the league playoffs. The Bucs have appeared in the championship game 21 times, including the last 20 in a row, and have won 16 times, including the last three seasons. The league did not hold a tournament in 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2021 (due to COVID-19). The only season the Bucs did not qualify is 2000. Whitworth and Whitman have met in every NWC Tournament championship game since 2016.
Pacific Lutheran will appear in the conference tournament for the eighth time and first since 2022. The Lutes have a 2-7 all-time tournament record and have yet to win a tournament championship. Whitman is making its 15th conference tournament appearance, and the Blues are 13-11 all-time. They have won four titles, their last coming in 2020. Lewis & Clark joins the tournament field for the 18th time and first since 2015. The Pioneers won the tournament championship in 2002 and have a 12-13 all-time tournament record.
The Opponent: Fourth seeded Lewis & Clark clinched a tournament spot with an 85-83 overtime win over George Fox on Friday night. The Pioneers finished with a 13-12 overall record and 9-7 NWC record. L&C is one of the top defensive teams in the conference, allowing 69.1 points per game to conference opponents, second to Whitman, and pace the conference with a 41.9 opponent field goal percentage. They shot 47% from the field in conference play, despite ranking eighth in points per game (70.9). Three players average in double figures for the Pioneers. Senior guard Mikey Medlock Jr. leads the Pioneer offensive attack with 10.7 points per contest. Senior forwards Sam Henderson and Isaac Ticeson each put up 10.6 points per game. Ticeson leads the team with 5.7 rebounds per game. L&C is 1-5 against conference tournament opponents this season, the lone victory being a 66-62 win over Whitman on February 8th. Whitworth swept the Pioneers this season by a combined four points.
The Other Side: Pacific Lutheran, the second seed, finished the regular season 14-11 overall and 11-5 in the NWC. The Lutes are riding a five-game winning streak into the conference tournament, including a 73-63 win over Pacific and 80-67 win over Lewis & Clark to close the regular season. PLU ranks fourth in both scoring offense (74.9) and scoring defense (72.4) in conference play this season. They have the most efficient team in the conference over the past two months with a league-leading 47.5 field goal percentage. Junior guard Miles Nash leads the team with 14.2 points and 3.5 assists per game. Senior forward Brandin Reidel averages 9.9 points and a team-leading 5.7 rebounds per contest. The Lutes are 4-2 against tournament opponents this season, including a 75-73 win over Whitworth on January 3rd in Spokane. PLU split the season series with Whitman and swept Lewis & Clark.
Third seeded Whitman closed the regular season with a 12-13 overall record and 10-6 mark in the NWC. The Blues are on a three-game winning streak heading into this weekend that included wins over Whitworth (79-63) and Linfield (78-70). Whitman is a well-coached strong defensive team that has allowed a conference-best 68.1 points per game to conference opponents. In 16 conference games this season, the Blues have the highest scoring margin in the league (6.6), while also ranking last in team rebounds (32.3). Junior guard Ali Efe Isik leads the team in scoring (13.2 ppg) and rebounding (5.7). Senior guard Isaiah Amato averages 12.8 points per game and shoots 41.1% from beyond the arc. Grant Hunt, the 2023-24 NWC Defensive Player of the Year, leads the Blues' defensive efforts. Whitman has split its season series with each conference opponent (3-3). In their last matchup with PLU on January 31st, the Lutes came out on top 84-76.
Starting Hot: The Pirates finished their 2024-25 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, has built 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 16.3 points per game while posting six 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. Holtz has scored 1,526 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 has come 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 15.8 points per game to go along with 4.6 rebounds, and a team-leading 3.5 assists per game. He is also third in the NWC in assist/turnover ratio (2.1). 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 1.3 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 11.8 points per game on 37.8% shooting from beyond the arc. Ty Edwards has made 74 straight starts for Whitworth and is posting 6.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting 56.8% 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 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game at the off-guard position. Colton Looney is shooting 52.8% from beyond the arc while averaging 7.9 points and 2.4 rebounds. Caden Bateman, a transfer from the University of Montana, provides size and athleticism off the bench and averages 3.6 rebounds per contest.
Nearly Two Decades of Dominance: Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (over 17 seasons) the Pirates are 448-102 (.814), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 233 of its last 265 (.879).
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 131-42 (.757) away from home, 102-28 (.785) 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 117-38 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 winner of the NWC Tournament will claim the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament. The field will be announced on Monday, March 3rd.
