Whitman Tops Whitworth, Repeats As NWC Tournament Champs - Mar 2, 2020
They did it the hard way. But they did it. On the heels of a second half explosion and the might of Darne Duckett (5'11''-PG)'s career-high 31 points, the Whitman College men's basketball team went into the lion's den and upended Whitworth 86-80 to repeat as Northwest Conference Tournament champions, Saturday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse. With the win comes the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Blues will find out their postseason fate when the tournament brackets are announced on Monday. Andrew Vickers (6'4''-G) scored 24 points, 17 in the second half with Jaron Kirkley (6'3''-G) adding 18 points and Robert Colton (6'6''-F) doing his thing in the paint with a game-high 12 rebounds. Whitman (20-7) dominated the paint to the tune of a 32-18 scoring advantage in a game that saw both teams protect the ball fairly well. Ben College (6'1''-G) did his part for the Bucs (21-6), scoring a game-high 33 points on 7-12 shooting from behind the arc. Sam Lees (6'4''-F) and Garrett Hull (6'0''-PG) each added 11 with Lees grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Just as at Linfield, Whitman unleashed a 50-plus point second half to put the Bucs behind the eight ball. The Blues especially caught fire midway through the second half with a 14-3 run capped by a Brian Warinner (6'7''-F) three pointer. Vickers then took over, nailing a three pointer then completing a three point play at the line to give his team a double digit lead at 65-55 with 9:47 to play. As you would expect from a team of Whitworth's caliber, the Bucs rallied which was ignited by College's four-point play. Liam Fitzgerald (6'6''-F) then caught fire, nailing back-to-back three pointers to whittle the Whitman lead down to two points with 6:45 to play. But champions withstand runs, and that's what the Blues did. Trevor Osborne nailed two huge three pointers to stymie the Pirate momentum, then Vickers nailed another just inside of three minutes to play to put the Blues up 80-74. The final minute became a free throw contest with the Blues cooly hitting their charity stripe shots and finishing the victory. The Blues had the hot hand early in the game as Duckett's layup and three-pointer capped a 9-2 game opening run. The Bucs stemmed the early Whitman run and took their first lead of the game. Garrett Paxton (6'2''-G) connected from three to put Whitworth up 16-15 with 10:45 to play until halftime. The teams battled back and forth until a late run put the Bucs ahead. Hull's three pointer extended the lead to eight points but Duckett made sure it didn't get pushed to double digits. His three pointer slowed the momentum and helped the Blues keep the deficit at single digits heading into halftime.
Bridgeland
