SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates close out the home portion of the 2025-26 men's basketball regular season schedule this weekend. The Bucs will host Lewis & Clark on Friday night (7:30 pm) and George Fox on Saturday (5:00 pm). Both games will stream live on FloCollege and fans can check out the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for other live links.
Tickets: Digital tickets are required for entrance to the Whitworth Fieldhouse for all fans. Tickets can be purchased in advance using the Hometown Ticketing App (www.whitworthpirates.com/tickets). Tickets are $14 for adults and $8 for senior adults, non-Whitworth students and children. Whitworth students, as well as faculty and staff, get free admission by using an ID number.
Senior Night: Whitworth will celebrate its senior class on Saturday night, prior to the game against George Fox. The ten-member class includes all five starters: Caden Bateman, Stephen Behil, Ty Edwards, Colton Looney and Ben Nyquist. Carson Talbert and Lucas Meisner have played key roles off the bench for four seasons. Graduate transfer Brian Caldera has been an important addition. Kobe Parlin was injured nine games into his Pirate career. Diego Jaques was a starter in 2024-25 before suffering a career-ending injury and has spent 2025-26 as a student-assistant coach.
The Pirates: Whitworth (17-4 overall, 11-1 NWC) has won three straight since suffering its first NWC loss of the season, including last week's home victories over Whitman and Linfield.
Whitworth never trailed in Tuesday's 80-46 win over Whitman to sweep this year's "Battle of Whits." The Bucs scored 47 first half points thanks to 56% shooting from the field. The Whitworth defense dominated throughout, holding the Blues to 26% field goal shooting and only 16% (5-31) from three-point range while forcing 19 turnovers. Caden Bateman scored 16 points while Carson Talbert came off the bench for a career-high 15 points. Stephen Behil totaled 14 and had six boards. Ben Nyquist dished five assists as Whitworth had 21 assists on 32 made baskets.
The Pirates had a 12-point halftime lead against visiting Linfield on Friday night but had to withstand a furious rally that pulled within four points late in the game before the Bucs won 67-58. Whitworth had a 43-31 edge in rebounding, including an 11-5 margin in offensive boards. Bateman led the way with his fourth double-double of the season, posting 18 points and 11 rebounds. Behil tallied another 14 points while Nate Krohn scored a career-high 12 points off the bench. Nyquist filled up the stat sheet with 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Conference Race Update: Whitworth (11-1) has a three-game lead in the standings with four games to play. Puget Sound (8-4) is alone in second place, just ahead of Willamette (8-5). Lewis & Clark (7-5) is in fourth. The regular season champion hosts the 2026 NWC Tournament (Feb. 27-28) and the top four teams in the standings qualify.
Statistically speaking: Through 21 games Whitworth is averaging 83.0 points per game (second in the NWC) and allowing 69.4 points per contest (first in the NWC). The Pirates lead the league in scoring margin (+13.5 – 18th in NCAA Div. III).
Whitworth has been strong on the defensive side of the ball. The Pirates lead the conference in field goal percentage defense (38.4%), which ranks 8th in Division III, and they lead in three-point field goal percentage defense (29.9%). Whitworth also leads the conference in rebounds per game (42.9 – 19th in Div. III), in defensive rebounds per game (30.4 – 7th in Div. III) and in rebound margin (+8.1 – 24th in Div. III).
Iron Man: Whitworth senior post Ty Edwards (Sumner, Wash.) has started 96 consecutive games for the Pirates. It is the longest active starting streak since Whitworth Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame member George Valle started all 116 games of his career from 2013 through 2016.
Be(hil) the Ball: Stephen Behil is having a breakout senior season. The 6-6 wing from Camas leads the team in scoring average at 16.8 ppg, which ranks sixth in the NWC. He is also fifth in the conference in rebounds per game (7.2). Behil is seventh in the NWC in three-pointers made per game (2.4) and is ninth in three-point percentage (36.2).
Energizer: Ben Nyquist has made a successful transition from sixth man to key starter in 2025-26. The senior guard from Kirkland, Washington leads the Northwest Conference in steals with 70 (3.33 spg – 3rd in NCAA DIII). He needs only six more steals to tie the school record for steals in one season. He also leads the team in assists with 74 (3.5 apg – sixth in the NWC) and ranks third in the NWC in assist-to-turnover ratio (+2.4). He averages 12.0 points per game, third on the team, while making 52.4% of his field goals.
Microwave: Senior forward Colton Looney (Vancouver, Wash.) can heat up faster than any other Pirate from three-point range. Looney, second on the team in scoring average (12.3 ppg), ranks third in the NWC in three-point percentage (41.4) and is second on the team lead in three-pointers made per game (2.3).
Bateman Plays Big: Caden Bateman is playing like the NWC's top big man down the stretch of the 2025-26 season. He is tied for the team lead with four double-doubles, two of which have come in the last four games. He averages 11.5 points per game while leading the team in field goal percentage (54.9%). He also leads the team and ranks fourth in the NWC in rebounding (7.4 rpg).
Listen to Road Games: Fans can tune in online to listen to Pirate ROAD games for free at WhitworthPirates.com. Inland Northwest Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Bud Nameck, familiar in Spokane as the KXLY channel 4 sports director for over 20 years and the longtime host of the KXLY 920am Morning News, is in his 11th season as the voice of the Pirates in 2025. He was the voice of Washington State University men's basketball for 22 years and spent that same amount of time on the Cougar football broadcasts – the final three on play by play. He is a longtime resident of the Inland Northwest who began his career as the Sports Information Director and radio voice of Gonzaga University basketball and baseball in the 1980s.
The Opponents: Lewis & Clark comes into Friday's game 11-10 overall and 7-5 in the NWC. The River Otters split last weekend, defeating Pacific 87-83 at home on Friday before losing 92-82 at George Fox. Shawn Carson continues as interim head coach after he took over five games into the season. L&C is averaging 78.9 points per game while allowing 77.8 points per contest. The River Otters lead the conference in team field goal percentage (47.4%) and team three-point percentage (37.7%). Senior guard Andre Treadwell puts up 18.9 points per game (fifth in the NWC), while making 43.2% of his three-pointers. Senior forward Justin White contributes 13.6 points per game and leads the team in rebounding (7.7 – 3rd in the NWC). Whitworth won the first meeting with L&C 82-62 on January 17th in Portland thanks to 27 points by Colton Looney and a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) from Caden Bateman.
George Fox is 3-18 overall and 2-10 in the NWC heading into Friday's game at Whitman. The Bruins are coming off perhaps their best game of the season, last Saturday's 92-82 win over L&C when they led wire-to-wire. Maco Hamilton, in his 13th season, is the Dean of NWC basketball coaches. GFU is averaging 79.0 points per game and allowing 89.9. The Bruins have two of the top scoring players in the conference in junior guard Donovan Cooks and first-year guard Sydney Natche. Cooks is third in the conference at 19.4 points per game while Natche is fourth (19.3 ppg). Whitworth won 100-85 in Newburg, Oregon on January 16th after making 10 of 18 from three-point range. Colton Looney scored 20 points, and Stephen Behil posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Two Decades of Dominance: Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (over 19 seasons) the Pirates are 465-107 (.812), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 244 of its last 277 (.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 235-30 (.887) 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 14 seasons. Since the start of the 11-12 season, Whitworth is 139-45 (.755) away from home, 110-32 (.775) in true road games.
Coming Up Next: Whitworth will close out the regular season in the Tacoma area at Pacific Lutheran (Feb. 20) and Puget Sound (Feb. 21).
