Pirates one win away
Colin Willemsen turned in one of his finest offensive performances of the season Tuesday night.
It hardly lived up to his defense, however.
Willemsen effectively shut down the Northwest Conference’s leading scorer and led Whitworth to a 73-61 victory over rival Whitman in a men’s basketball game at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The Pirates (18-6, 10-4 NWC) closed within one victory of a securing the conference’s regular-season championship and a No. 1 seed in the NWC tournament. Whitworth owns a head-to-head tiebreaker over Puget Sound, which is tied with the Pirates atop the NWC standings but will have to settle for the league’s No. 2 seed if Whitworth wins at George Fox on Friday.
The league’s second seed hosts the No. 3 seed in the league tournament semifinal on Feb. 28. The No. 1 seed hosts the semifinal winner at 7 p.m. on March 1 with an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament at stake.
Willemsen scored 20 points, but it was his suffocating defense of Whitman’s Chris Faidley that was particularly impressive. Faidley, who entered the game averaging an NWC-best 22.6 points a game, had more personal fouls (one) than points (zero) in the first half while trying to find room to breathe against Willemsen.
“The conference doesn’t have a defensive player of the year,” Whitworth coach Jim Hayford said, “but if it did, I think he’d be a unanimous selection. Night in and night out, he defends the other team’s best player. … He’s a great defensive player and he scores 15 points a night.”
Willemsen acknowledged he had a challenge on his hands against Faidley, who possesses one of the quickest shot releases in the conference and has seemingly limitless range on his jumper. In two games against Whitworth (and Willemsen) this season, Faidley made only 8 of 29 shots from the field. He finished with 14 points Tuesday, all of them in the final 11 minutes when Whitworth’s lead was in double digits.
“I wanted to make it as difficult for him as possible – use my length to make it difficult for him to score,” Willemsen said. “He’s such a great shooter, and I had to do everything I can to keep him from scoring 30.”
Ryan Symes led all scorers with 22 points, and Ross Nakamura buried four 3-pointers for Whitworth.
Willemsen said the Pirates will be ready when they travel to George Fox on Friday, and they won’t take GF lightly.
Women
Whitworth 81, Whitman 76 (OT): Alida Bower finished one 3-pointer shy of tying a school record, knocking down 7 of 11 attempts beyond the arc to finish with a season-high 30 points in the Pirates’ overtime victory.
Bower scored five of the Pirates’ final six points in overtime, including a layup with 35 seconds left that put the game out of reach at 80-76. She also collected a game-high 15 rebounds and three steals.
Whitworth improved to 13-11 overall and 8-7 in the NWC.