WALLA WALLA, Wash. ­–  Dempsey Roggenbuck's 27 points weren't enough for the Linfield Wildcats, who fell 99-82 to the Whitman Blues at the Sherwood Center on Saturday night.
 
It was the Darne Duckett and Jaron Kirkley show for the Blues, as Duckett poured in 24 points off the bench and Kirkley added 22. Trevor Osborne added another 13 for Whitman, who shot 53.5 percent for the game from the field.
 
Linfield finished the game shooting 54 percent from the field but committed 21 turnovers, compared to only 13 for Whitman.
 
At the end of the first half, the Blues held a narrow 44-39 advantage. Roggenbuck scored 11 points in the frame and Max Lommen had eight points and four rebounds on 4 for 7 shooting.
 
The Wildcats began the game with a roaring start, jumping quickly to a 14-2 lead. But the Blues responded with a run of their own, making it 16-14 after the first eight minutes. Three straight three-pointers, two by Roggenbuck and one by Grant Gibb, gave Linfield another double-digit lead.
 
Whitman took its first lead of the game right before the end of the opening half, as Duckett and Kirkley combined for 10 of the last 12 points of the half.
 
In the second half, it was all Whitman. The Blues' lead never fell below seven points in the final half and they shot 60 percent in the period. Andrew Vickers scored all 11 of his points in the second half for the home side. Aaron Baune hit one of his three three-pointers to trim the lead down to nine points halfway through the second half. But Duckett and Kirkley responded for Whitman, opening up another run to push the lead back to double digits. Whitman had 22 points off of turnovers and made 12 three-pointers for the game.

"We gave as much as we could tonight, but we didn't have as much as we needed in the tank and Whitman played outstanding," said Wildcats coach Shanan Rosenberg. "I'm proud of how our guys prepared and handled themselves this whole trip. This was an extraordinarily difficult task. The good news is we have 5 of 8 at home during the second half of league play and I know we can get better."

Baune finished with 15 points off the bench for the Wildcats. Gibb and Carson Bonine each had 10 points. Roggenbuck had eight assists to tie a career-high and Tanner Autencio led the team with 10 rebounds, a third of Linfield's final total.
 
NEXT
Linfield (12-5, 6-2 in NWC) heads to Newberg to take on George Fox (7-10, 3-5 in NWC). Tipoff is at 8 p.m. on Saturday, with the Farnham Electric pregame show beginning at 7:45.