SPOKANE, Wash. – It was a quiet night offensively for the Linfield men's basketball team as the Wildcats took a tough 90-43 loss to the Pirates Tuesday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse.
Whitworth dominated all aspects of the game, outscoring Linfield 49-28 in the first half before blowing the Wildcats away 41-15 in the second half. The Pirates' shooting was lights out as they made 56.1 percent of their shots from the field, including 9 of 25 from three-point range to go with an 87.5 free throw percentage. The Pirates scored 46 points in the paint and received 46 points from the bench while outrebounding the 'Cats 45-28.
"We hit a buzzsaw tonight," head coach
Shanan Rosenberg said. "Nothing really went our way and they were red hot all night."
Jojo Anderson led the Pirates with a game-high 19 points, going 8 for 12 from the field and 2 for 3 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed seven rebounds. JT McDermott and Miguel Lopez dropped 12 points apiece, each making 6 of 7 from the field. McDermott finished with a game-high eight rebounds. Garrett Paxton just missed double figures with nine points.
The Pirates scored the first 18 points of the second half before the 'Cats finally broke the silence with an
Alex Jaczko layup at the 11:56 mark. The Pirates followed that with a 12-0 run to make it 79-33 with 5:22 left to play. The largest Whitworth lead was a 90-41 advantage with 53 seconds left in the contest.
The 'Cats were efficient in the first half, shooting 40.7 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from outside. But it just wasn't efficient enough to keep up with the red-hot Pirates. The 'Cats couldn't find an answer out of the break as their offensive struggles continued. They made just 16.7 percent of their shots in the second half, finishing the game with a 28.1 team field goal percentage.
No Linfield player scored in double figures. The team was led by eight points by senior guard
Max Lommen. Lommen connected on 3 of 7 from the field and 2 of 5 from deep. Whitworth limited senior guard
Dempsey Roggenbuck, the Northwest Conference's leading scorer entering tonight, to six points on 2 of 11 shooting. Junior forward
Reece Gibb made both of his shots off the bench to finish with five points and two rebounds.
"The most positive thing about tonight was getting to play guys that don't normally get to have game reps at this point," Rosenberg said. "I was proud of how those guys competed."
NEXT
With the loss, the 'Cats fell to 9-4 overall and 4-1 in NWC play. The Pirates (12-2, 5-1 NWC) moved into a tie for first place with Pacific Lutheran with the win. The 'Cats will look to bounce back from Tuesday's big loss as they continue their eastern Washington road trip at Whitman at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
"We have to move on quick and get ready for Whitman (Wednesday) night."