WALLA WALLA, Wash. – There's a Gold Rush coming to the Northwest on Thursday evening!
And it's happening in the Sherwood Athletics Center at 7 p.m. when Whitman College's men's basketball team will square off with visiting Lewis & Clark College in a semifinal matchup of the Northwest Conference postseason tournament.
Whitman fans are encouraged to come dressed up in their finest of gold as the Missionaries try to take the shine off an upset-minded Pioneers squad that has been defeated by Whitman twice already this season.
The same two teams opened the conference portions of their respective schedules in the early days of the new year.
Christian McDonald's 20-point night, with
Matt Mounier adding 18, and
Philip Chircu's nine rebounds sparked Whitman to a 77-62 road win over the Pios on January 2.
Not even a month later the two hit the George Ball Court at the 'Wood with the home Missionaries racing past L&C, 87-58. McDonald again led the M's in scoring, this time with 16 points, but the wealth was spread around as four others crossed into double-figures in scoring on the stats sheet.
Thursday's winner between second-seeded Whitman and third seed L&C will move on to the league championship game, Saturday evening. The opponent will be the winner of Thursday's other semifinal, fourth seed Willamette University at top-seeded Whitworth University. Saturday's host will be the highest seed remaining after the semifinal games.
Get. Your. Gold. On!
