It has been an historic season for the Linfield Wildcats, who reached 20 wins in a single season and won at least a share of the Northwest Conference Championship for the first time since 2000-01. The Wildcats now host the Whitman Blues on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals of the NWC Tournament, marking the first postseason home game since the 2009-10 season.
 
TICKETS
Doors open at 6 p.m. on Thursday. As this is a Northwest Conference championship event, admission prices are as follows: Adults $8, seniors $5, high school students with school ID $5. Children 5 and under are free. Linfield and Whitman students will be admitted free of charge with college ID.
 
BEVERAGE POLICY
The Northwest Conference prohibits any outside beverages to be brought inside the venue. All guests will be asked to empty their containers prior to entering the venue. Only sealed water bottles and empty containers that can be filled with water inside Ted Wilson Gym are allowed.
 
TALE OF THE TAPE
The Wildcats finished the regular season with a record of 20-5 and 14-2 in conference play, a mark which tied for the best record with the Whitworth Pirates. Whitworth owns the tiebreaker over the 'Cats and is the No. 1 seed in the NWC Tournament. The Blues, 18-7 and 13-3 in conference play, dropped three of their last five games to close out the regular season.
 
Both Linfield and Whitman defended their home court successfully in the regular season with the Blues beating the Wildcats in Walla Walla by a score of 99-82 on January 25 and the Wildcats winning 73-70 in McMinnville on February 21.
 
The winner of the No. 2/No. 3 matchup at Ted Wilson Gym on Thursday will take on the winner of the No.1/No. 4 matchup between Whitworth and Pacific Lutheran. The highest remaining seed will host the NWC Tournament final on Saturday. The winner will secure the NWC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
 
COVERAGE
The Linfield Sports Network will be broadcasting the game on Thursday with Joe Stuart and Graeme Fineman on the call.
 
PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
Linfield comes into Thursday's game having won its last eight contests. Only one of those games – Linfield's win over Whitman last Friday – was a one-possession affair. The Wildcats are a perfect 8-0 in Northwest Conference games at home.
 
Linfield is one of the top shooting teams in all of NCAA Division III, ranking second in the nation with 40.3 three-point percentage and fourth in the nation in field goal percentage, shooting 51.2 percent from the field. Linfield is also sixth in the nation with 19.2 assists per game and 11th in scoring offense, averaging 89.2 points per game.
 
Dempsey Roggenbuck scored 26 points in the Wildcats' conference championship-clinching win over the Pirates and is averaging 18 points per game this season, which is third in the NWC. Guard Tanner Autencio is the Wildcats' jack of all trades, leading the conference in assists per game, averaging 4.5 per game and an assist to turnover ratio of 2.22.
 
Center Austin Hilton is the heart and soul of the team, battling for tough rebounds on both ends of the floor. Hilton averages 2.4 offensive rebounds and 6.8 total rebounds per game.
 
Max Lommen and Hilton are major factors for the Wildcats' high field-goal percentage. Lommen is shooting 60.3 percent from the field this season to lead the NWC and Hilton ranks second, shooting 59.1 percent.
 
Grant Gibb is another staple in the Wildcats' starting lineup, averaging 11.5 points per game, shooting 46.2 percent from the field and converting 43.8 percent of his shots from outside the three-point arc.
 
Two key bench players for the Wildcats are Will Burghardt and Aaron Baune. Burghardt is shooting 43.8 percent from the field, scoring 9.7 points per game and averaging 3.1 assists. Baune is scoring 10.1 points per game, shooting 52 percent from the field and averages three rebounds per outing.
 
Freshman Carson Bonine has become a regular in the Linfield rotation through the second half of conference play. He is shooting 55 percent from the field and 51.3 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Linfield has improved its overall record by at least one game each of the past four seasons under coach Shanan Rosenberg, who led the Wildcats to their first conference championship and 20-win in a season since 2000-01, the last time the Wildcats appeared in the NCAA postseason.
 
Linfield is looking for its first conference tournament win since 1999-00, when the 'Cats beat Pacific 75-61.
 
A RARITY FOR THE BLUES

Under 12th-year coach Eric Bridgeland, the Blues won the three straight NWC titles with perfect 16-0 records, losing just five games combined over the past three seasons. Whitman posted an unprecedented NWC record of 62-2 over the previous four years. This season, the Blues dropped three conference games, falling to Lewis & Clark, Whitworth and Linfield.

Perennially one of the top teams in the Northwest Conference, the Blues must hit the road for a Northwest Conference Tournament game for the first time since 2013. They are 0-3 in road NWC Tournament games since 2010-11.
 
The Blues are also one of the top offensive teams in the country, scoring 96.6 points per game, which is third in Division III. They make 11.5 three-point field goals per game, which is second in the conference and 11^th nationally.
 
Applying a trademark full-court defense which tends to suffocate opposing offenses, the Blues force 18.8 turnovers per game and accumulate 9.9 steals per game, both second in the conference.
 
Containing Blues star Andrew Vickers is a key for the Wildcats. He is scoring 17.2 points per game while shooting 52.5 percent from the field. Robert Colton is second in the conference with 7.6 rebounds per game and Jason Kirkley is shooting 51.1 percent from the field.