WALLA WALLA, Wash.  The 2018 Northwest Conference tournament in men's basketball went down to the buzzer -- literally, with Whitworth University's Kyle Roach launching a 3-pointer that dropped through the net with the horn sounding for a 91-88 victory over host and No. 1-ranked Whitman College.

Saturday evening's game at a sold out Sherwood Athletics Center was not just a game between two of the nation's best teams. 'War' is a word associated by some for epic contests -- think Rocky and Apollo -- but the connotation of a physical-ness wouldn't be correct.

No. Instead, this was two teams -- start thinking of a favorite cliché -- putting everything on the line, doing whatever it takes, or choose that preferred cliché.

The lead was exchanged 16 times.

The game was tied 16 times.

Over the final 7 minutes and 41 seconds, only once did either team forge a lead larger than two points.

At 86-82, off a steal, a layup-and-one from Tim Howell, the Blues (26-1) were the owner of that 'large' lead, with 3:06 to play.

A Whitman foul on the ensuing Whitworth (24-3) possession put NWC Player of the Year Kyle Roach at the free throw line, where he converted a pair of chances to cut the Pirates' deficit in half.

A traveling call handed the ball back to Whitworth and with 2:08 showing on the clock, Garrett Hull hit a 10-footer to tie the game for the 15th time.

Each team missed opportunities to break the deadlock over the next minute, but not until Whitman's Joey Hewitt hit a fall-away from around 12 feet did the scoreboard do anything but tick away time.

Whitworth thought it had the tying points on a Kevin Crosno layup at the other end, but Austin Butler swatted away the attempt for his fourth block of the night, only to have Crosno nab the loose ball and dish to Hull, who missed a jumper…that was again rebounded by Crosno.

A layup by Isaiah Hernandez finally completed the possession for the Pirates and tied the game for the 16th time.

The Blues played for the last shot but once again heard the whistle for another travel call, putting the ball in Whitworth's hands with 2.8 seconds left, inbounding from under their own basket.

Jack Stewart's defense of the inbounding Pirate nearly ticked away the permitted time allowed, but somehow a pass found its way down court, found Roach, who took a step or two and found a championship with his clutch trey.

Both teams, during the game, probably experienced feelings of 'letting an opportunity get away.'

Whitman took its first lead at 10-8 but the Pirates bounced back and led by a basket or two for nearly every second of the next 10 minutes.

Opportunity lost, as the Blues threaded some key defensive stops in with their scoring to pull ahead, 33-31, on a pair of free throws by Darné Duckett at the 5:28 mark of the first half.

The advantage was short-lived, though, as the Pirates answered by racing out to a nine-point lead, 46-37, with 2:11 in the half.

Opportunity lost, as Whitman battled back with a 9-0 run to close out the half and enter the break tied at 46-46.

So now the championship would come down to kind of a do-over for the last 20 minutes.

Tied at 52-52, the Blues swarmed and scored, pestered and scored, completing an 11-0 run to take a commanding 63-52 lead.

Ben Beatie had two steals and Stewart came away with another during the demonstrative defensive stretch by the Blues.

Trevor Osborne counted a 3-pointer, and Howell, Butler and Osborne each hit driving layups to add the offense -- with Osborne converting an and-one on his layin.

This time it was the Pirates that washed away the opposition's opportunity to maybe put the game away.

Whitworth went on a 15-4 tear and by the 11:33 mark had erased its deficit to square the game at 67-67.

Three more times the scoreboard would show deadlocks in the final 10 minutes, until Cedric Jacobs-Jones pulled down an offensive rebound and went right back up for a soft jumper over a defender at the rim to lift Whitman ahead 83-82, setting the stage for the final, harrowing minutes.

Ben College, behind 6-of-10 from behind the arc, led all scorers with 24 points for the Pirates. Roach, 5-of-6 from long range, was next with 23 points. In all, the Pirates hit 13 of their 26 3-pointers, all but two coming from the launchpads of College and Roach.

Howell paced four Blues into double-digit scoring, leading with 21 on the night. Hewitt pushed past 1,000 career points (1,015) with 18 on the night, and Butler (16) and Jacobs-Jones (13) also hit for double figures.

The Pirates, with Saturday's win, earn the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III national tournament, so the Blues -- having been the unanimous No. 1 (D3hoops.com) all season long -- will have to wait until the NCAA's Selection Monday at 9:30 a.m. PT to learn where an expected at-large bid will have them play in the opening two rounds of the tournament.

No team ever wants a loss counted in their record, but Whitman's first of the season may just have a positive effect.

Head coach Eric Bridgeland knows his team better than anyone. "We have a growth mindset. Win or lose, this team always finds things in games to improve upon.

"We'll evolve. That's been the greatest thing about this team," he added.

The players are all in with that philosophy.

"We'll wake up tomorrow and start figuring out a way to beat (Whitworth), because we'll probably see them again," said Hewitt about his own team and the one that will likely be in the same Regional pod this season, as the two were last winter.

Hewitt also reflected on the timing of Saturday's defeat.

"We have not experienced a loss that didn't end our season in two years," referring to a Sweet 16 loss in 2016 and a national semifinal defeat in 2017. "We can be mad, but we can't put our heads down."

With unity, Butler added, "We're fortunate to have a loss that doesn't end our season. I'm very confident that we'll use this as motivation."

The external factor of a loss on the Blues' home court wasn't ignored in the looking-ahead part of the post-game.

"If you don't get motivated by watching another team cut down nets in your gym…," started Hewitt, before pausing then finally adding, "We'll harness that and take it into our next game. We can only grow from this. It's something we needed."

Like brothers, Butler lamented, "Watching that (Whitworth net cutting ceremony) wasn't fun, but it was needed."

Two of the nation's best time are within 160 miles of each other, play twice against each other within regular season NWC action -- both won by Whitman -- and are likely to once again end up in the same Regional bracket for another showdown.

Whitman will need to find some answers -- "Obviously, Kyle Roach is special. Ben College was unstoppable. Credit to Whitworth," said Bridgeland -- but Hewitt and Butler both claimed the same thing in their parting words: "This is really good for us. We've never experienced this. It's something we needed."

Sounds like they and their teammates are all set for another epic game.