The Whitworth men’s basketball team has extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 22 games. After clinching the conference championship last week, the Bucs, ranked seventh in the nation by D3Hoops.com, went on the road to win their final two league games, finishing the season with an undefeated 16-0 record in Northwest Conference play.
“We’ve just got a really talented group of guys and we have the best team chemistry of any team I’ve ever played on,” junior forward David Riley said.
On Tuesday, Feb. 16, the Pirates headed to Whitman College to take on the Missionaries and came away with a 70-57 victory.
Freshman guard Wade Gebbers led Whitworth with a career-high 20 points, and senior post Nate Montgomery turned in a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Whitworth started the game shooting 1-11 from the field, and trailed multiple times in the early going. But a score of 10-9 would be the last time Whitman would hold the lead, and the Pirates caught fire and headed to the locker room at halftime up 39-26. Whitman got within nine points in the second half, but the Bucs held on for the victory.
On Saturday, the Pirates made the trek to McMinnville, Ore., to take on Linfield College in the final conference game for both teams.
This time it was senior guard Eric Beal who led Whitworth to victory. His game-high 18 points led a group of five Pirates, including Montgomery, Riley, sophomore forward Jack Loofburrow and senior forward Bo Gregg, who all scored in double figures to secure the 77-53 win.
Three-point shooting turned out to be the big difference in the game, with Whitworth shooting 42 percent, knocking down 11 of their 26 attempts.
Meanwhile, the Pirates held the Wildcats to a dismal 3 for 20 from behind the arc, a 15 percent shooting effort that ruined any chance Linfield had of keeping pace.
“It’s a pretty cool deal to have [the nation’s longest winning streak] but we try to not think about it too much,”
Riley said.
Whitworth will put their nation-leading winning streak on the line this Thursday, when they host Lewis & Clark College in one of two semi-final games in the Northwest Conference Tournament.
The winner of that game will advance to play the winner of Linfield and George Fox on Saturday in the tournament championship game.
Contact Alex Blade at editor@whitworthian.com.
Undefeated Bucs aim to take first round win in NWC
Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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