SPOKANE, Wash. -- Whitworth College concluded an outstanding 2006-07 men's basketball season ranked 9th in the final D3hoops.com poll and with a new record for season winning percentage. The Pirates were 24-4 (.857), breaking the old record of 23-4 (.852) set in 2003.

Williams named 2nd Team All-Region by D3hoops.com

In addition, Bryan Williams was voted D3hoops.com Second Team All-West Region by a vote of regional Sports Information Directors.

Whitworth defeated DePauw (Ind.) 62-59 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Division III national tournament. The Pirates lost at Washington (Mo.) 63-61 in the second round when a last-second three point try fell just short. Washington went on to make the final four and finish third overall in the tournament.

The Pirates: Whitworth tied for the 2007 Northwest Conference regular season title with a 13-3 record. The Pirates defeated co-champion Lewis & Clark in the NWC Tournament Final to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Jim Hayford was named 2007 NWC Coach of the Year, while Bryan Williams (Sr., G, Colbert, Wash. - Mead) was named NWC Player of the Year. Both Ryan Symes (Jr., F, Palo Alto, Calif. - Delta Coll.) and James Jones (Sr., G, Manchester, England - Univ. of St. Mary) were selected to the six-member All-NWC First Team. Kevin Hasenfus (Sr., P, Lodi, Calif. - Delta Coll.) was an Honorable Mention All-NWC choice.

Since becoming head coach for the 2001-02 season, Hayford has finished first or second in the NWC five of those six years.

Whitworth made a remarkable 52.1% of its shots from the field this season, including a hot 40.1% from three point range. The Pirates outscored opponents by more than 13 points per contest this season (76.1 - 62.9).

Whitworth was very good defensively as well, holding opponents to an NWC-lowest 40.1% shooting from the floor. The Bucs outrebounded opponents by 3.9 boards per game (34.0 - 30.1) and averaged 8 steals per game.

Sound Familiar?: The #9 final ranking is the second time this school year that a Pirate program finished the season rated among the top-ten schools in the nation. The Whitworth football team finished 11-1 and ranked 9th in the final D3football.com poll. The #9 national ranking is the highest-ever final rating for the men's basketball team at the NCAA Division III level. Click here for the entire hoops poll.

Post Season Story: Even though the Pirates only made their second appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament, Whitworth is no stranger to post-season. 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 (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.

2006-07 NWC Standings	NWC	Overall
Whitworth	13-3	24-4
Lewis & Clark	13-3	19-7
Puget Sound	11-5	18-7
Pacific	8-8	12-13
George Fox	7-9	12-13
Willamette	6-10	10-15
Pacific Lutheran	6-10	9-14
Whitman	5-11	9-16
Linfield	3-13	8-17
Through Feb. 21

On the Oregon Trail: Winning on the road in the Northwest Conference has always been a challenge. But since the arrival of head coach Jim Hayford for the 2001-02 season, Whitworth has found success playing in the state of Oregon. Including this season's 4-1 mark, the Pirates are 22-8 (.733) in NWC regular season contests played in Oregon during Hayford's six seasons.

Dishing the Ball: Bryan Williams retired following this season as Whitworth's #2 all-time leaders in assists. This season he has 194 assists through 25 games played, averaging 7.2 per contest. He led the conference last year by averaging 5.7 assists per game. He also led the league as a sophomore when he dished 5.58 assists per contest. He finished his career with 578 assists and an average of 5.6 per game. He is averaged 10.9 points per game this season and became the 19th player in Whitworth history to score more than 1,000 points in his career. He is the second player in Whitworth history with more than 1,000 career points and 500 career assists. Steve Mihas had 1,070 career points and 716 assists from 1988-91 in 115 games.

Sir James is Back!: James Jones developed into Whitworth's leading scorer this season, his first as a starter, despite missing six games with a broken right hand. He averaged 16.2 points per game this year, the fourth highest average in the NWC. He made 44.8% of his three pointers this year, the highest average among Whitworth's starters.

The Shooter: Jon Young retires with the Whitworth single season records for most three pointers made (92) and attempted (225), set in 2004-05, and the career marks for three pointers made (313) and attempted (782). He is also the 18th player in Whitworth history to score more than 1,000 career points, surpassing that total in last season's NWC Playoff Championship at UPS. Young capped his final regular season by earning this week's NWC Player of the Week award, then led the Pirates to a win in the NWC final with a game-high 22 points.

Big Hos: Kevin Hasenfus responded well to the absence of James Jones in the lineup with the best stretch of games in his career. He was the NWC Player of the Week on January 22nd after averaging 19 points and 12 rebounds in that weekend's wins over Whitman and Willamette. The 6'-7" center averaged 11.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.

Symes of the Times: Ryan Symes was consistently Whitworth's second leading scorer this season, averaging 14.9 points per game. He scored a career-high 27 points in the win at Pacific on January 26th. He made 53% of his shots from the floor, 80% of his free throws and grabbed 5.4 rebounds per contest.

The List of 1,000 Point Scorers (19 total): Bryan Depew (2001-04) 2,013; Rod McDonald (1964-67) 1,807;Jim Doherty (1951-53) 1,726; Nate Dunham (1994-97) 1,551; Marv Adams (1955-57) 1,457; Todd Martin (1987-90) 1,403; Tommy Stewart (1982-85) 1,358; Jason Hull (1991-94) 1,348; Ralph Polson (1951-52) 1,302; Jon Young (2002- ) 1,301; Bob Mandeville (1981-84) 1,296; Brian Meyers (1984-87) 1,107; Steve Mihas (1987-1991) 1,070; Ryan Nelson (1998-2001) 1,069; Bryan Williams (2003- ) 1,062; Doug Loiler (1991-92) 1,060; Steve Street (1987-88) 1,059; Chase Williams (2000-2003), 1,053; Phil Jordan (1953-55) 1,024.

Hayford Nets His 100th: Whitworth head coach Jim Hayford became the fastest coach in Pirate history to record his 100th victory as head coach of the Bucs with the win over Whittier on November 25th. Now 119-39 (.753) after his sixth season at Whitworth (156-64 overall in eight years as a head coach), Hayford is only the third coach in school history to reach the 100 win plateau. Hayford has won two NWC Coach of the Year awards at Whitworth (2003, 2007).

Dick Kamm (1961-64, 66-69) was the first, but he did it at the end of his seventh season. He was 110-99 in eight years. Warren Friedrichs (1986-2001) is Whitworth's all-time winningest coach (251-195, 16 years), but he didn't get his 100th win until his 7th season.

Globetrotters: The Pirates traveled more than 9,300 miles around the United States over the course of eight days to pick up their first six wins of the season. Whitworth won two games at the Lee Pfund Classic hosted by Wheaton, Illinois on November 17th and 18th. Then the Bucs won both of their games at the US Bank - Whitworth Maui Classic in Hawaii on November 22nd and 23rd. The Pirates closed the trip in Southern California with the two wins at the Caltech/Whittier Thanksgiving Classic.

2006-07 Schedule

2006-07 Roster

2006-07 Statistics