Men's Basketball: NWC Semifinals Thursday Night in Tacoma

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- The Whitman College men's basketball team is in Tacoma Thursday night to battle Puget Sound in one of two Northwest Conference playoff semifinal games. The game starts at 7 p.m. in Memorial Fieldhouse on the Puget Sound campus.

Admission is free for students from the participating schools with valid IDs. Admission for others is $5 for youth and seniors and $7 for adults.

Fans not able to see No. 3 Whitman (11-5 NWC, 18-7) square off with No. 2 Puget Sound (11-5 NWC, 19-6) in person can follow the action online, through live stats and an audio webcast.

A victory Thursday night means Whitman advances to play in Saturday night's playoff championship tilt -- the winner of which get the NWC's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III national championship field.

Thursday's other semifinal has No. 4 Lewis & Clark (9-7 NWC, 14-11) playing No. 1 Whitworth (15-1 NWC, 22-3) in Spokane.

If Whitman wins Thursday and Lewis & Clark upends Whitworth, Whitman will host Saturday night's championship game.

Victories by Whitman and Whitworth on Thursday means that Saturday's playoff finale will take place in Spokane.

Thursday Night: Whitman vs. Puget Sound

Puget Sound and Whitman finished the regular season in a tie for second place in NWC standings, but the Loggers got the No. 2 seed and hosting rights for Thursday's game by virtue of their two narrow victories over Whitman.

In this season's second meeting between the two teams, Whitman worked its way to a two-point lead on its home floor late last month. But Riggs Yarbro came off the Puget Sound bench to hit a pair of jumpers in the final 90 seconds to lift the Loggers to a two-point victory.

Senior David Michaels led Whitman in that game with 16 points, five assists and four rebounds. Junior Ignas Pavilonis hit four threes for 12 points (plus three steals) while junior Drew Raher added 10 points. Sophomore Josh Duckworth chipped in with eight points, six rebounds and six assists.

Yarbro with 13 points was one of four Loggers scoring in double figures. Kaleb Shelton topped Puget Sound that night with 17 points while Anthony Gittens doubled up with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

In this season's first meeting between the two schools, which was played early in January in Tacoma, Whitman held a one-point lead late in the game, but the Loggers parlayed an 8-1 spurt into a 68-63 victory

Michaels had 18 points and 11 rebounds in that game while sophomore LuQuam Thompson was a force with 15 points and six rebounds. Rex Holmes countered with 19 points for Puget Sound, which also got 15 points and 12 rebounds from Shelton.

Whitman, which won three of its final four games to grab a share of second place, was powered for much of the season by Michaels, who was named NWC Player of the Year after averaging 19.6 points and 6.2 rebounds on the season.

Sophomore Ben Eisenhardt (8.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg) made a big impact after joining the Whitman roster at the semester break. Others in the deep Missionary rotation include Pavilonis, Raher, Duckworth and Thompson, along with senior Brandon Shaw, junior Peter Clark, sophomores Ryan Gilkey and Jordan Dickson, and freshman Matt Mounier.

Gittens (12.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg) leads a Puget Sound squad that has just as many weapons. Shelton (11.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg) is another key while freshman Derek Jobe (9.2 ppg) has added to the Logger depth.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu