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Whitman College Athletics

Schedule

MBKvRut-New McDonald
77
Winner Whitman WCMBK 7-3, 1-0 NWC
62
Lewis & Clark L&CMBKB 5-5, 0-1 NWC
Winner
Whitman WCMBK
7-3, 1-0 NWC
77
Final
62
Lewis & Clark L&CMBKB
5-5, 0-1 NWC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Whitman WCMBK 39 38 77
Lewis & Clark L&CMBKB 30 32 62

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Roy Elia

15-pt win over L&C in NWC opener

PORTLAND, Ore. — Christian McDonald scored a team-high 20 points,Friday,night as the Whitman College men's basketball team opened Northwest Conference-play with a 77-62 victory over host Lewis & Clark College at the Pamplin Sports Center.

Matt Mounier tallied 18 points for the victors and Jackson Clough contributed 11 as the Missionaries improved to 7-3 overall.

Lewis & Clark's Serg Ovchinnikov led both teams with 21 points, but the Pioneers slipped to 5-5 with the loss in their league opener.

The Missionaries jumped out to a 14-4 lead within the first five minutes and change of the opening period. Reserve post Peter French completed the early blitz with a baby hook in the low block at the,14:56,mark.

Clough led the M's in the early going with six points on a pair of three-point field goals and Evan Martin added four on a couple of inside buckets.

Mounier increased Whitman's advantage to 12, 26-14, on a straight-on trey just off the top of the key with,9:05,on the clock. He drained a pair of free throws at the,8:14,mark that ballooned the lead to 14, 28-14.

McDonald buried a triple with,7:48,remaining in the half to give Whitman a 15-point margin, 31-16.

The Pioneers got themselves back in the game with an 11-2 run over the next five minutes. Ovchinnikov, the lone Pioneer to reach double-figure scoring in the game, drilled a three-point shot with,2:38,remaining to bring L & C within six, 33-27.

McDonald closed out a half-ending Whitman spurt of 6-3 with a trio of charity tosses in the final 35 seconds and the Missionaries went into intermission with a 39-30 lead.
McDonald and Mounier paced Whitman in the initial 20 minutes with 10 points apiece and Clough added eight.

Free throws, three-point goals, and turnovers were keys to the Missionary cause. Whitman connected on 12-of-15 freebies compared with an 8-for-13 showing for the Pioneers. The Missionaries were 5-for-11 from outside the arc while Lewis & Clark went 2-of-8. Whitman relinquished the ball eight times and forced 18 Pioneer miscues.
Lewis & Clark opened the second half with a 14-3 run and seized a 44-42 edge on a Carl Appleton layup with,15:15,to go.

Clough answered with a triple just six seconds later to put Whitman back in front, 45-44. The long ball commenced a 10-3 run by the Missionaries that Philip Chircu ended on a three-point shot with,11:11,remaining that produced a five-point spread, 52-47.

The Pioneers came right back with a 10-2 advance. Bradley Carter's jumper with,9:13,left gave Lewis & Clark a 57-54 lead.

Whitman scored the next seven points to grab the lead for keeps. It led 61-57 following two Mounier free throws at the,8:15,mark.

Martin completed what ended up as a 13-2 run on a jumper with,5:27,on the clock that resulted in an eight-point Whitman lead, 67-59.

Ovchinnikov made it 67-61 with a layin at the,5:17,mark, but the Pioneers got no closer the rest of the way.

A Martin dunk started a game-finishing 10-1 romp over the final,4:34,that included six free throws in as many attempts — four by Chircu and two off the hand of McDonald.

"Our guys showed a lot of character down the stretch," Whitman coach Eric Bridgeland said. "When L&C regained the lead in the last 10 minutes, it took a lot of grit on our guys' part to shut the door and come away with the win."

Whitman made 26-of-31 free throws for the game. McDonald (11-for-13) and Mounier (8-for-8) proved to be the most proficient.

The Missionaries ended up a plus-15 in the turnover department. They committed 15 snafus and forced 30 from the Pioneers.,

Whitman wraps up its weekend conference road trip,Saturday,when they face Willamette University at,6 p.m.
 
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