Michaels Posts Double, Men Turn 100

News Release Date:
Friday, December 5

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- With five players scoring in double figures and freshman David Michaels posting his first collegiate double-double, Whitman ran past the University of California-Santa Cruz 100-87 Friday night to advance to the championship game of the 61st Annual Lee Fulmer Tournament at California's University of Redlands.

David Michaels

Michaels, a 6-foot-7 forward, combined 15 points with 10 rebounds as Whitman evened its season record at 3-3. The loss dropped Santa Cruz to 3-6 on the season.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps  will be Whitman's foe in Saturday's 8 p.m. tournament championship game. CMS got past Whitworth 73-68 in Friday's other tourney semifinal. 

Senior Chris Faidley led the Missionary attack against Santa Cruz with 21 points. Freshman Brandon Shaw added 19 points while Jordan Wheeler and Max Adcox were good for 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Santa Cruz bolted to an 18-4 lead in the first seven minutes of the game, but Whitman pecked away and finally evened the slate at 30-30 on Shaw's jumper with 4:03 left in the opening half. The Missionaries led 38-34 at the break.

Whitman opened the second half on a four-minute, 12-4 spurt to take control. Michaels capped the run with a 3-pointer to give the Missionaries a 50-38 cushion. Faidley's two free throws made it 62-49 with 11 minutes left to play.

Max Adcox

Santa Cruz struck back from the 3-point line, making an amazing eight of its next nine shots from long distance to pull within 79-76 with six minutes left. The Banana Slugs crept to to within 84-82 with 4:29 remaining, but Wheeler scored his third straight bucket for Whitman and Adcox added a three-point play in the paint to stem the tide. That finished a perfect shooting night for Adcox, who was four of four from the floor (two of two from 3-point) and three of three from the charity stripe.

After Faidley's 3-point bomb with 2:30 on the clock gave the Missionaries a 96-86 lead, Santa Cruz was unable to mount another charge. 

The Banana Slugs finished the night with a 14 of 26 showing from the 3-point line, which included seven of 10 in the second half. Whitman was nine of 19 from beyond the arc and outscored Santa Cruz 31-9 from the free throw stripe. The Missionaries shot 63 percent from the floor in the second half and 53.6 percent for the game.

Santa Cruz won the rebounding battle 38-32 but was forced into 21 turnovers. Shaw and Faidley had five and four steals, respectively, for Whitman.

Box Score

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