WALLA WALLA, Wash. – No. Breathing. Room.

Suffocating.

In other words, the defense of Whitman College's men's basketball team during Saturday evening's 109-51 Northwest Conference victory over visiting Linfield College on George Ball Court in the Sherwood Athletics Center.

The Missionaries (9-4, 3-1 NWC) dominated the Wildcats (2-10, 0-3) from start to finish. Linfield scored the first bucket of the game but Christian McDonald's 3-pointer after a Linfield turnover -- a harbinger of the next 37 minutes -- wrested the lead away for the first and last lead change of the contest. Including the miscue before McDonald's trey, the stifling Whitman press forced turnovers on four consecutive Linfield possessions to generate an 11-0 answer to the early deficit.

The Wildcats finally made it all the way up court after a Philip Chircu 3-pointer, which made the score 11-2, for a Jordan Clark layup but two more possessions ended like the ones before -- a turnover then a Rolaun Dunham jumper, and another turnover followed by a Matt Mounier trey.

By the time 20 minutes had elapsed Whitman had forced 18 turnovers, scoring 27 points off those opportunities, and carried a 52-24 lead into the halftime break. Twenty-four points? The Missionaries equaled that total before nine minutes into the contest when another Mounier 3-pointer made the score 24-8 at the 11:39 mark.

It just never seemed to stop. Passing lanes were always filled. Possessions were forced sideways where double-teams pounced on nearly helpless ball-handlers hemmed in also by the sideline they were tip-toeing against.

To help in its relentlessness, the defense was in constant supply of new bodies, fresh legs at the service of head coach Eric Bridgeland's lengthy bench. Twelve of 13 players who saw action accrued at least 10 minutes of ,playing time with only Tochi Oti eclipsing the 20-minute mark, accumulating 24 minutes as a type of field general for Bridgeland's attacking D.

Despite the commanding first half, the best was still to come.

Mounier stirred the crowd on hand with a 3-pointer to open the second half. Linfield turned the ball over on its answering possession, Jackson Clough's steal resulting in an Evan Martin layup, then missed a jumper it's next chance on offense. A Mounier driving layup was the answer to the Wildcats miss. Linfield's Murray Austin was fouled under the basket next and sank just the first of two free throws. And that was it.

For eight minutes.

A Connor Sende layup at the 10:33 mark would provide Linfield with its next points in the contest. Whitman's 27-1 run to kick off the second half was even more impressive than the frenetic, turnover-causing start to the game.

Linfield was less error-prone in the second half but the Missionaries still forced a total of 25 turnovers for the game resulting in 39 points, many courtesy of an eye-popping evening from behind the 3-point arc.

Mounier and McDonald each hit four of their attempts from long range, but they weren't the only Missionaries with sniper qualities on the night. Chircu hit three 3's, Dominic Lippi, JoJo Wiggins and Cheney Doane hit two apiece, and Rolaun Dunham got into the act with a 1-for-1 night. In all Whitman was 18-for-28 (64 percent) in 3-point field goal attempts. Say it again: 64 percent on 28 attempts.

Mounier finished with 20 points, edging out McDonald's 18 points for game-high honors. Also scoring in double-figures were Chircu (11 points) and Wiggins (10). All 12 players who launched a shot scored at least five points during the resounding victory.

Conversely, Linfield was led by Sende's and Clark's nine points apiece as not one Wildcat reached double-digits in scoring.

The conference season continues for Whitman with its next two outings. Hitting the road the Missionaries will square off with host George Fox University Friday night followed by an early-evening Saturday affair at Pacific (Ore.) University.