WALLA WALLA, Wash.- The Linfield men's basketball team lost a heartbreaker Wednesday night to the Whitman Blues, falling 81-80 on the final possession of the game in the Sherwood Center.
The Blues started in control of the game for the most part, holding early leads for much of the first half, leading by as much as nine for stretches before Linfield was able to answer with a 12-0 run to take a 33-30 lead with 5:22 left in the half.
But Whitman was able to respond with a 9-0 run of their own off three consecutive three-pointers. The Wildcats battled back to make it a one-point game, but a 10-1 Blues' run over the final 2:32 of the half made it 49-39 going into the break.
Whitman's strong first half was mostly fueled by 8 for 16 shooting on three-pointers. 16 of their first half points came from Nikola Trifunovic. Trifunovic finished as the game's leading scorer with 23 points, hitting four threes.
But the Wildcats came out strong in the second half, and eventually battled back to tie the game at 59 on a converted and-one opportunity for
Max Lommen with 11:45 to play.
After trading buckets for a stretch, the Wildcats were finally able to regain the lead at 72-71 on a
Dempsey Roggenbuck jumper with 6:10 remaining.
Roggenbuck returned to form against the Blues, scoring 23 points on 6 for 12 shooting with three made threes and 8 for 8 shooting on free throws, while dishing out four assists. The 2021 All-American selection had just 20 points combined in the previous two games but was the key catalyst of Linfield's strong second half.
"It was good to see Dempsey back in rhythm tonight and the team executing better," said head coach
Shanan Rosenberg.
The two teams passed the lead back and forth for much of the remainder of the game, with neither team leading by more than four points. Whitman took a lead of four with 1:06 remaining, but the 'Cats quickly answered back on an and-one for junior forward
Alex Jaczko to make the score 81-80 with less than a minute to play.
Jaczko provided key support off the bench for the Wildcats, pouring in a career high 15 points on 7 of 7 shooting.
"Alex Jackzo played incredible for us, especially with
Aaron Baune in foul trouble for much of the game," said Rosenberg.
The 'Cats were able to get a stop on defense following Jaczko's three-point play and called a timeout with just over 12 seconds remaining. Whitman came out of the timeout strong on defense, limiting the Wildcats options late.
Trey Bryant ended up taking the final shot of the game, putting up a baseline floater that bounced off the rim as time expired, setting the final at 81-80.
"Really tough one tonight, I love the way our guys responded from last night," said Rosenberg. "Unfortunately we gave up some key rebounds down the stretch that didn't enable us to hold a late lead."
Even with the one-point discrepancy, Linfield owned the second-half. The Wildcats shot 57 percent on field goals and 37.5 percent from three while going 8 for 11 from the free throw line. They held Whitman to 43 percent shooting from the field and 14.3 percent on threes.
On the night the Wildcats ended up shooting 52.7 percent from the field, while going 7 of 23 from three and 15 of 19 from the free throw line. The Blues shot 49% from the field while going 10 for 30 from three and 5 for 8 from the free-throw line.
The Blues won the battle of the boards on the night, outrebounding Linfield 28-25. The key difference maker was 9 offensive rebounds for Whitman, leading to 17 second-chance points. Linfield recorded only 3 offensive rebounds, leading to just 5 second-chance points.
"I thought there were some real bright spots for us tonight as a team, but due to adversity and a lack of continuity this year we are not quite there yet," said Rosenberg. "I'm confident we'll find that in the next few weeks."
The loss dropped Linfield to 9-5 overall, 4-2 in Northwest Conference play, and 4-5 away from Ted Wilson Gymnasium. Whitman improved to 7-8 overall but 5-2 in conference play, moving them past Linfield into third place in the NWC standings. The Wildcats now sit in fourth place.
NEXT
On Friday, Linfield continues its four-games-in-five-days gauntlet with a trip to Salem to take on the Willamette Bearcats. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. The 'Cats then host Pacific Lutheran on Saturday with a 6 o'clock tipoff.