TACOMA, Wash. - For the second straight season, the Whitman College men's basketball team claimed at least a share of the Northwest Conference's regular season title, doing so with a thrilling 83-81 overtime win at Pacific Lutheran on the final day of the conference season.
Finishing with identical 13-3 league records, both Whitman and Whitworth share the regular season conference title which the Blues won outright one season ago. The tiebreaker to host next weekend's NWC Tournament goes to the Pirates, however, as Whitman will travel to Spokane and open tournament play against third-seeded Pacific.
Jander Cline posted team highs of 22 points and seven rebounds for the Blues who rallied from a second-half, double-digit deficit. Ali Efe Isik added 12 points and seven rebounds and Isaiah Amato chipped in 13 points off the bench.
Miles Nash provided the offense for the Lutes, pouring in a game-high 32 points off the bench to go along with seven boards and five steals.
PLU led by 11 points at halftime and extended to a 15-point lead after Nash scored at the hoop to make it a 41-26 lead with 17:37 to play in the game. The Blues got it going as Cline and Amato drained consecutive three pointers to shave the lead to single digits, but the Lutes answered back with a triple from Jackson Reisner.Â
Reisner kept the lead at 13 with another triple several minutes later, but the Blues began to chip away. Amato hit a three pointer before Efe Isik scored the next four points to make it a six-point game with 10 minutes to play. Grant Hunt then arrived on the scene and capped an 11-0 run with a three pointer and a driving layup to put the Blues up 56-55 with 8:26 remaining.
The game was tight through the rest of regulation, but the Blues had the upper hand down the stretch when Efe Isik converted a three-point play the old fashioned way to give his team a 70-67 lead with 1:16 to play. Nash tied the game on PLU's last possession and Hunt couldn't get his buzzer-beater attempt to go as the teams headed to overtime tied at 72-72.
Whitman took control early in the overtime session as Pape converted a three-point play then dialed long distance on the next possession to put his team up four. Whitman went up by six points after Jai Deshpande got his jumper to go with 2:56 to play, but the Lutes took the game down to the final possession. Nash scored then forced a turnover leading to a PLU hoop to make it a one-point game with 11 seconds to play. He then had a chance to win the game at the buzzer but couldn't get his three-point attempt to go.
Whitman opens the Northwest Conference Tournament next Friday, Feb. 23 against Pacific. The full tournament schedule will be announced this week.
Â
#GoWhitman
