By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's basketball team will make its second trip to Oregon this week to visit Lewis & Clark on Friday (6:00pm) and Willamette 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 16th ranked Pirates (17-2 overall) extended their winning streak to five with two wins last weekend and moved to 8-2 in the Northwest Conference.
Whitworth pulled out a 60-58 win over Puget Sound on Friday night. The Pirates trailed by as much as seven in the first half but fought back to a three-point lead before the Loggers went into halftime with a 30-28 advantage. Down by four with just over two minutes to go, Jake Holtz scored a basket and Garrett Long made two free throws to tie the game. After one made free throw at the other end, Long hit a tough jumper in the key to take a one point lead with 20 seconds to go. The Pirates got a defensive stop and made one free throw before a last second heave came up short for Puget Sound. Holtz scored a team-high 21 points after missing last week's game vs. Linfield. Long and Ty Edwards each put up 10. Whitworth shot 41% from the floor and just 23.5% from distance.
On Saturday, the Pirates got revenge for one of their two losses with an 82-71 win over Pacific Lutheran. The Lutes came into the game on a five-game winning streak but never held a lead. The Bucs jumped out a 33-18 advantage midway through the first half before taking a 44-30 lead into the break. Pacific Lutheran kept pace in the second half but did not cut the lead to single digits until just over 30 seconds remained in the game. Whitworth's starting lineup was dominant and included four double digit scorers. Jake Holtz led with 23 and Garrett Long put up 22. Stephen Behil scored 13 points and Ty Edwards had 10 for the second day in a row. Ben Nyquist stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. The Pirates shot 46.7% from the field and an improved 41.2% from beyond the arc.
The Opponents: Lewis & Clark (10-9 overall, 6-4 NWC) host Whitworth after splitting a pair of conference games last week. The Pioneers fell to Willamette 65-56 on Tuesday before regrouping to grab a road win over Pacific 76-62 on Friday. L&C has maintained its strong defensive play with a conference leading 63.3 points allowed per game and 39.3 opponent field goal percentage. Although they rank last in the NWC in scoring offense (72.0), they are second to Whitworth in scoring margin (8.7), highlighting just how disruptive their defense can be. Senior forward Griffin Datcher IV leads the Pioneers with 10.3 points per game with senior Sam Henderson close behind at 9.9. L&C keeps its defense active and fresh with 10 players averaging over 15 minutes per game. Whitworth has won 21 straight games against the Pioneers dating back to 2014. Whitworth pulled out 76-75 overtime win in the team's first matchup after a buzzer-beating tip-in from Ben Nyquist.
Willamette (8-10, 2-8 NWC) comes into its matchup with Whitworth after breaking through with two conference wins last week. The Bearcats beat Lewis & Clark 62-56 on Tuesday before a high-scoring 111-104 victory over George Fox on Saturday. Willamette will host Whitman on Friday before Whitworth on Saturday. The Bearcats have struggled to get conference wins due to an eighth ranked scoring offense (72.3) and tied for ninth ranked scoring defense (82.7) in conference play. Rebounds will be a point of emphasis as they lead the NWC with 11.4 offensive rebounds per game against conference opponents. They are led by senior guard Josiah Frank at 14.2 points per game. Freshman guard Kai Brown has also been impactful in his first year (12.6 ppg) while senior forward D'Ante Dean leads the team with 8.1 rebounds per game. The Pirates have won eight of the last nine games with the Bearcats, including an 88-65 victory on January 10th in Spokane.
NWC Standings: Whitworth (8-2 NWC) took sole possession of first place with two wins last weekend. Whitman (6-4) fell into a tie with Lewis & Clark (6-4) and Pacific Lutheran (6-4) for second amidst a four-game losing streak. Pacific (5-5) sits in fifth while Puget Sound, George Fox and Linfield are all 4-6 and fighting for the sixth spot.
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 tied for second in the NWC in scoring at 16.2 points per game while posting 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 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 1,427 points during his Whitworth career as he continues to stuff the stat sheet and be problematic for opposing defenses.
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 second in the NWC in scoring at 16.3 points per game to go along with 4.8 rebounds, and a team-leading 3.4 assists per game. He is also fourth in the NWC in assist/turnover ratio (1.9). 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 1.5 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 12.1 points per game on 38.1% shooting from beyond the arc. Junior Ty Edwards has made 68 straight starts for Whitworth and is posting 6.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting 57.8% 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 1.4 steals per game at the off-guard position. Colton Looney is shooting 49.3% 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 3.2 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 443-101 (.814), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 228 of its last 259 (.880).
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 225-28 (.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 128-41 (.757) away from home, 99-27 (.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 112-37 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 return to Whitworth Fieldhouse to battle Pacific on Friday February 14 and George Fox on February 15th in the final regular season home games of the season.
