WALLA WALLA, Wash. - The Whitman College men's basketball team saw its title hopes upended, falling to Whitworth 78-65 in the championship game of the Northwest Conference Tournament on Saturday night at the Sherwood Center.
Walter Lum chipped in a team-high 14 points for the Blues who fell victim to a lights out second-half, three-point shooting effort by Whitworth. After connecting on only one triple in the first half, the Bucs shot it at a 67% clip in the second. Murphy Caffo scored 13 and added four assists with Xzavier Lino chipping in 10 points.
The Blues will now await their NCAA Tournament fate when the NCAA unveils its field of 64 on Monday.
JT McDermott led the charge for Whitworth who earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. He dropped a game-high 22 points to go along with seven rebounds, three blocks and four steals.
The game was tight early but it were the Blues who pulled ahead. Three pointers by Grant Hunt and Lum put Whitman out in front by four heading to the first media timeout. Jander Cline got in on the long-range shooting action, draining a three pointer to give the Blues a 19-10 lead with 12:36 to play.
The Pirates showed their metal and didn't let the game get away from them. Holtz scored on back-to-back shots, but Lum kept the cushion for the Blues with a smooth baseline fadeaway jumper. Whitman continued to lead as Lino and Lum connected again from distance to help Whitman to a 29-23 lead with 6:58 to play. Whitman pushed the lead to double digits, but some late miscues helped Whitworth shave the lead to only seven points by the break.
The Bucs rallied quickly in the second half and tied the game. Back-to-back buckets from Holtz erased the deficit completely and tied the game at 47-47 with 14:54 to play. Whitman regrouped as consecutive buckets from Jai Deshpande and Lino put the Blues back ahead, but Whitworth took over from there.
Whitman hung around, but just couldn't put together enough of a run to get back in the game. Whitworth got three pointers to go on two of the next three possessions and extended the lead to double digits and ultimately closed out the game.
The NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Selection Show will air Monday, February 27th at 1:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT) on NCAA.com
