MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Garrett Long's floating jumper just before the buzzer lifted the Whitworth Pirates to a thrilling 72-71 victory over Linfield to close the 2024-25 regular season on Saturday night in a Northwest Conference men's basketball battle.
The Pirates rebounded from their upset loss to Whitman on Tuesday and finished 13-3 in the NWC and 22-3 overall. The Wildcats end their season at 7-17 overall and 4-10 in the NWC.
The Linfield offense made seven of its first nine shots in a hot start that led to a 17-4 start five minutes into the game. Colton Looney cut into the lead with a pair of threes, but the Wildcats responded and grabbed their largest lead of the game 26-12 after a Max Juhala layup.
Whitworth punched back in a big way with a 20-2 run over the next 5:19. The Bucs went 6-6 from deep during that stretch, led by Looney with three long distance buckets, two from Dylan Westermeyer and one from Long. Westermeyer's second three-pointer gave the Bucs their first lead of the game 29-28 with 5:03 to go in the half. The Wildcats answered with a 13-2 run of their own to take a 41-34 lead in the final minute. Stephen Behil was fouled on a three-pointer just before the buzzer and made all three free throws to close the deficit to 39-41 at halftime.
The Pirates shot 48.3% (14-29) in the first half to Linfield's 55.2% (16-29). Both teams made half of their three-point attempts, Whitworth with eight made and the Wildcats six. Looney led all scorers with 17 first half points on five made threes. The Bucs turned the ball over eight times in the first half.
The first five minutes of the second half held three ties and two lead changes. Neither team separated by more than two until Linfield went on a 14-5 run and took a 61-54 lead after a Dayton Magana trey with 10:08 to play. The Wildcat offense went cold, and the Pirates chipped away with nine unanswered points over the next four minutes. Caden Bateman hit an elbow jumper to give the Pirates a 63-61 lead at the 6:02 mark. Whitworth's 9-0 run turned into a 14-0 run after long nailed a three-pointer that pushed the lead to 68-61, its largest of the game. The Wildcats were held scoreless for 7:25 seconds of game time.
Despite the poor stretch, Linfield would not go away and scored five unanswered to trail 68-70 with 54 seconds to play. The Wildcats forced a stop and called a timeout on the next possession. After a missed three and offensive rebound, Josh Ryan was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to give Linfield a 71-70 lead with eight seconds to play. After a Wildcat foul, Long took the inbounds pass and drove hard to his right. He turned the corner and dropped in a tough right-handed floater on the baseline with under a second remaining. Linfield did not get off a shot before the buzzer sounded.
The Pirates went 28-57 (49.1%) from the floor and made 12 of 26 (46.2%) three-point attempts. Whitworth edged the Wildcats 34-32 in the rebound battle but were outscored 30-20 in the paint. The Bucs finished with 14 turnovers that Linfield turned into 21 points.
The Whitworth offense was led by Looney, who shot 6-7 from deep and finished with 22 points. Long was the only other Pirate in double figures with 14 and added four assists. Westermeyer put up nine points on three made shots from beyond the arc while Bateman grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds.
10 Wildcat players scored in the game. Jack Greenwood led Linfield with 13 points and five assists. Ryan scored 12 points and Juhala had nine. Linfield shot 44.3% (27-61) from the field.
The first-seeded Pirates will host Lewis & Clark in the NWC Tournament semifinal on Friday, February 28th. Pacific Lutheran will battle Whitman in the other semifinal matchup on Friday night.
