Pirates Headed Back to Sweet 16 for Second Time
SPOKANE, Wash. - Fourth-ranked Whitworth University will be making its second NCAA Division III men's basketball "sweet 16" appearance in the last three years when the Pirates head to Greensboro, North Carolina for this weekend's sectional rounds at Guilford College. The Pirates advanced to this round by virtue of Saturday's second round win over Chapman University. The Pirates will take on Eastern Mennonite University in one of two sectional semifinals on Friday. The host Quakers play College of Wooster (Ohio) in the other section semifinal. The winners will meet on Saturday for the a trip to the Division III final four. Friday's game will be heard live on KSBN (1230am) and KSBN.net with Bob Castle calling every play. Whitworth (26-2) is participating in its fourth straight NCAA DIII tournament and fifth overall. The Pirates are riding a 25-game winning streak, the current longest in NCAA men's basketball at any level. The total of 26 wins ties the 1996 Whitworth team for most during one season in school history. Live Coverage: Guilford College will be providing a live video feed of all three games this weekend. Follow the Live Video link in the column to the right to be connected to the ODAC webcast page. The broadcasts are free, but require an account registration. Live stats are also available through the link to the right. More information and links can be found on Guilford's sectional website. Tickets: Ticket sales for this weekend's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament sectional games at Guilford cost $7 for adults, $4 for students (with ID), seniors and children aged 2-18. Tickets may be reserved by Whitworth fans on Wednesday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) by calling 336-316-2190. Tickets may be reserved Thursday between 9:00 a.m. and Noon (Eastern Time) by calling the same number. Tickets will be available for Whitworth's fans at the WillCall window beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in the Ragan-Brown Field House. The Pirates: Whitworth earned the fourth NCAA Division III tournament victory in its history with Saturday's 77-56 win over Chapman in front of one of the largest crowds in Whitworth Fieldhouse history. The Pirates used a quick start to establish an early lead, then never gave it up against the Panthers. Whitworth pulled away in the second half by making 55.6% (10-18) of its shots from the floor and 84.6% (22-26) of its free throws in the period. Nate Montgomery (Sr., P, Sammamish, Wash.), the 2010 NWC Player of the Year, led the way with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Eric Beal (Sr., G, Spokane, Wash.) added 22 points, four assists and three steals. David Riley (Sr., F, Palo Alto, Calif.) finished with 14 points. The Royals: Eastern Mennonite is 24-4 and tied for the regular season title (14-2) in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) with Guilford. The Royals fell in the ODAC semifinals, but were awarded one of the Pool C (at-large) bids to their first-ever NCAA Division III tournament. EMU played the first two rounds at home and picked up wins over Centre (Ky.) 63-53 and Wilmington (Ohio) 85-71. The Royals employ a high-paced style of play, scoring 88.6 points per game which ranks second in NCAA Division III. They led the ODAC in steals per game and currently rank 11th in the nation with an average of 11.3 picks per contest. Junior wing Todd Phillips leads the team in scoring (17.8 ppg), rebounding (7.5 rpg), assists (3.14) and steals (2.17), earning First Team All-ODAC honors. Junior guard George Johnson, who earned Second Team All-ODAC, adds 14.8 points per contest and is the team's most dangerous three-point shooter, making 41% of his attempts. Head coach Kirby Dean was selected as the conference's Coach of the Year. Potential Opponents: Sectional host Guilford College is 28-2 and spent time as the #1-ranked team in the nation this season. After tying with EMU for the regular season ODAC title, the Quakers defeated Randolph-Macon in the conference tournament championship game. Guilford, hoping for a return trip to the Division III final four this season, defeated Christopher Newport (N.J.) and John Carroll (Ohio) at home in the first two rounds of this year's tournament. Senior post Tyler Sanborn (6'-11") is the ODAC Player of the Year. He averages 19.4 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. Senior guard Clay Henson, a First Team All-ODAC honoree, adds 17.7 points and 2.9 three-pointers per contest. The College of Wooster (25-5) won the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season title with a 15-1 record, then defeated Wittenburg 88-77 to win the conference tournament. The Scots played the first two rounds of the NCAA DIII tournament at home and defeated Grove City (Pa.) 63-52 and Wisconsin-Whitewater 87-78. Junior guard Ian Franks was selected as the NCAC Player of the Year after leading Wooster with an average of 17.6 points per game. He also grabs 5.0 rebounds per game. Fellow First Team All-Conference selection Bryan Wickliffe (Jr., F) adds 11.2 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game. All-NWC Honors: Whitworth's big season was recognized by Northwest Conference coaches with a slew of All-NWC awards. Jim Hayford was voted as the NWC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career. Nate Montgomery, who began his playing career at Whitworth as an unrecruited walk-on, goes out as the NWC Player of the Year. David Riley was selected to the All-NWC First Team for the second year in a row. Eric Beal also was a First Team honoree. Bo Gregg (Sr., F, Lewiston, Idaho) received honorable mention consideration. Click here for the entire 2010 All-NWC Team. History Achieved: While the Pirates became only the second NWC team ever to finish the conference schedule 16-0, following the feat of the University of Puget Sound in 2009, Whitworth accomplished something in 2010 that the Loggers didn't. This season's Bucs became the first NWC team with win 18 conference games in one season by going 16-0 and winning the NWC tournament. The conference went to a 16-game schedule in 1997. Before UPS went through the conference schedule unbeaten last winter, it had been 21 years since Willamette finished 10-0 in 1988. Post Season History: Whitworth is making its fourth consecutive NCAA Division III tournament appearance and fifth overall. The Bucs are now 4-4 all-time in the NCAA tournament. Last winter the Pirates defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first round before losing at Puget Sound in round two. In 2008 Whitworth defeated Occidental (Calif.) in the second round of the tournament before falling to Wheaton (Ill.) in the round of 16. In 2007 the Bucs went to St. Louis, Missouri and defeated DePauw in overtime in the first round before falling by two points to host Washington University in the second round. In 2003 the Pirates lost at eventual championship-game participant Gustavus Adolphus in the first round. Even though the Pirates are making their fifth appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament, Whitworth has a longer post-season history. The Pirates played in the 1996 and 1998 NAIA Division II tournaments, hosted by Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho. In 1996 Whitworth advanced to the title game before losing in overtime to Albertson (now College of Idaho) College. In 1998 Whitworth lost on a last-second basket to eventual champion Bethel College (Ind.) in the quarterfinals. Prior to the splitting of the NAIA into divisions in 1992, the Pirates played in the NAIA tournament in Kansas City five times. Whitworth advanced to the quarterfinals in 1952 and then suffered first-round losses in 1954, 1955, 1961 and 1991. NWC Title: Whitworth's 2010 conference championship is the Pirates' third in the last four years and fourth in Jim Hayford's tenure as head coach. Whitworth has now won a total of 12 Northwest Conference titles in men's basketball (since rejoining the league in 1982). NWC Tournament History: There have been 13 conference tournaments since the NWC (then the NCIC) first began a league playoff following the 1993-94 season. Whitworth has competed in 12 of those tournaments, one ahead of Lewis & Clark for the conference's all-time lead. The Pirates are now 10-7 all-time in the league playoffs, have appeared in the championship game eight times and have won six times: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2003, 1996. The league did not hold a tournament in 1999, 2004 and 2005. The only season the Bucs did not qualify is 2000. Hitting the Century Mark: Whitworth has reached the 100-point plateau three-times this season. That is as many as the last five seasons combined and the most since the 2002-03 Pirates reached 100 points four times: Trey Magnifique: The 2010 Pirates have proven to be the best three-point shooting team in Whitworth history. The Pirates have broken the school record for three-pointers made in one season (274 and counting) and tied the record for three-pointers made in a single game (17 vs. George Fox on Feb. 28). Whitworth leads the NWC in three-pointers made per game (9.94, fourth in NCAA DIII) and are second in team three-point percentage (.394, 21st in NCAA DIII). Streaking: Winning 25 games in a row is impressive enough. But Whitworth has been doing it in style. The Pirates' streak is currently the longest in NCAA men's basketball at any level. The Pirates have won 22 of those 25 games by double figures. Over the course of the streak, Whitworth has won by an average of 19.2 points per game. In addition, over the 16-game Northwest Conference schedule, Whitworth trailed in only five of the games (at Lewis & Clark for 30 seconds, at PLU for the first five minutes, vs. Linfield for one minute, vs. Willamette, vs. Puget Sound). The Pirates led every other game the entire way. Whitworth broke the previous win-streak record of 13 shared by this year's team with two other Pirate squads. The 1995-96 team won 13 games in a row before losing the NAIA Division II title game, and the 2006-07 squad opened the season 13-0. National Rankings: Whitworth has steadily climbed the D3hoops.com poll during the current winning streak, rising over consecutive weeks from 22nd to 18th, 15th, 10th, 8th, 7th, 5th and now up to 4th in the most recent (March 2) poll, the highest-ever rating for Whitworth as an NCAA Division III member. The Bucs opened the season 16th in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, but fell out of the top 25 in the first regular poll of the year following losses to Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Pomona-Pitzer. Click here for the current D3hoops.com poll. The previous highest rating ever for Whitworth before this season was sixth in January of 2007 after their 13-0 start. Whitworth was also the favorite in the Northwest Conference this season. The Pirates picked up eight of nine first place votes to top the preseason coaches poll. Click here for the 2009 NWC Coaches Poll. NCAA Leaders: Several weeks of strong basketball, including a long winning streak, have driven the Pirates up the ranks in several of the NCAA Division III statistics categories: Home-Sweet-Home: Whitworth had been stellar in the Fieldhouse throughout the 1990's and 2000's and has continued that success during Jim Hayford's tenure as the Pirates' head coach. Since Hayford became coach for the 2001-02 season the Pirates are 86-10 (.896) in the Whitworth Fieldhouse. Since the 2005-06 season, the Bucs are 53-3 (.946) at home. Whitworth is currently on a 22-game home-court winning streak. The school record for consecutive home victories is 45, beginning during the 1994-95 season and ending during the 1997-98 season. Sharp Shooter: David Riley has been named First Team All-NWC for the second consecutive season. Riley is currently averaging 13.4 points per game. He has a very high shooting percentage (.482) based on the fact that more than half of his shots are from three-point range. His 34-point outburst against Whitman on January 19th is his highest of the season and second-highest of his career. Riley currently ranks second in the NWC in three-point percentage (.420) and second in the NWC in three-pointers per game (2.25). No other player in the conference comes close to combining great accuracy and high volume in three-point shooting. He now has 1,155 career points, recently becoming the 20th player in Whitworth history to reach the 1,000 point plateau. Last winter Riley was selected a First Team All-NWC honoree after leading the team in scoring average (16.4 ppg). He made 55.4% of his shots from the field, including 46.7% of his three-point tries (84/180). Riley was one of only two players in the NWC ranked in the top ten individually in both three-point percentage (2nd) and three-pointers made per game (2nd at 3.0). He was named MVP of the Johns Hopkins Blue Jay Invitational after scoring a tournament-record 34 points in the opening win over Brockport State and leading the tournament in scoring. In last season's win over Pacific Lutheran, Riley topped his career high with 37 points, 34 in the first half when he tied his own school record for three-pointers made (8) and led the Bucs to a 57-14 halftime lead. Big Nate: 6'-8" Nate Montgomery, the 2010 NWC Player of the Year, has become one of the most dominating big men in division III this season. He is averaging 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, leading the Pirates in both categories. He leads the Northwest Conference (and ranks 26th in DIII) in field goal percentage (60.6%). In NWC-only statistics, he averaged 18.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and had eight double-doubles in 16 games. He scored a career-high 33 points in a win over George Fox on January 9th. In last Saturday's win over Chapman he became the 21st player in Whitworth history to surpass 1,000 career points and now has 1,013 in his four seasons with the Bucs. He averaged 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest last year and had eight double-doubles, the second highest total in the conference. Over the course of four games during last season’s conference and national tournament run, Montgomery averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds. The Beal Deal: Eric Beal earned First Team All-NWC in his first year as the starting point guard this season. The former Greater Spokane League Player of the Year (North Central HS) and standout for the Community Colleges of Spokane is second on the team in scoring average (14.5) and second in the NWC (19th nationally) in assists per game (5.67). He is also second in the NWC (50th nationally) in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.01 - 1). He has also been the Pirates' most consistent free throw shooter this season, making 83% of his attempts. Sixth-Man Supreme: Bo Gregg has started 11 games this season, but has spent most of the year playing the role of sixth-man. The former Inland Empire League Player of the Year from Lewiston HS earned honorable mention All-NWC this season. He is averaging 11.1 points and 4.8 rebounds (second on the team) and has made 41.8% of his three-point attempts. There was arguably no better spark off of the bench in the Northwest Conference this season. The Glue Guy: Clay Gebbers (Jr., G, Brewster, Wash.) may not produce scoring numbers that grab attention, but he does all the little things that make the team successful. Gebbers, a former Washington state 1A Player of the Year from Brewster HS, is tasked with guarding the opposing team's best player. He has the second-highest assist and steal numbers for the Pirates. And if you forget about him, he'll make you pay, like the 17 points he scored in the NWC tournament final against George Fox. Herr Friedt: When Felix Friedt (So., P, Dusseldorf, Germany) was inserted into the starting line-up on December 11th against UC Santa Cruz the Pirates went 17-0 in their next 17 games. Over the course of those 17 games, Friedt has averaged 8.5 points and four rebounds per game. He has made 57% of his shots and 76% of his free throws. Dynastic Duo: Nate Montgomery and Mike Odland (Sr., F, Seattle, Wash.) are Whitworth’s two four-year seniors. No players in Pirate basketball history have taken part in more wins that that pair. During Montgomery and Odland’s four years Whitworth has won 96 contests, an average of 24 wins per season. The Coach: In his ninth season leading the Pirates, Whitworth head coach Jim Hayford has averaged more than 20 wins a season for a team that can only schedule 25 games a year. Now 189-54 (.777) at Whitworth (226-81 overall in his 11th year as a head coach), Hayford is only the third coach in school history to reach the 100 win plateau and the second-winningest coach in school history. Hayford has won four NWC Coach of the Year awards at Whitworth (2003, 2007, 2008, 2010), has led the Pirates to four conference championships and four NCAA tournament appearances (2003, 2007, 2008, 2009). Go to Athletics Home Page > Men's Basketball > Sports Releases > |
