MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield men's basketball team lost 71-47 Friday night at the hands of the Whitman Blues.
 
"Have to put this one behind us quick," said head coach Shanan Rosenberg afterwards. "I'm embarrassed we weren't ready to play at the game's onset. That's my fault."
 
Both teams struggled to shoot the ball from the jump, with both sides starting out just 1 for 7 from the field. But Whitman (13-3, 6-1) found their rhythm first with a 16-2 run from the 12:47 mark until 4:39 left in the first half.
 
By halftime, the Blues led Linfield (5-10, 2-5) 33-15.
 
Although the Wildcats opened the second half with a three-pointer from Reece Gibb, Whitman immediately responded with another 10-0 run to balloon their lead to 27.
 
Whitman shot 50 percent from three in the second half after a paltry 26.7 percent in the first, leading to a Blues' lead of as much as 34 in the before Linfield reserves trimmed the deficit to the eventual final margin of 24 point.
 
"Tomorrow will tell a lot about our team, tonight there's not much to feel good about," said Rosenberg. "Hats off to Whitman, who dominated us in every way."
 
Linfield shot just 35.7 percent from the field and a season worse 13.6 percent (3 for 22) from three, with a 4 for 5 total from the free throw line. Whitman ended the night with a 42.9 percent mark from the field and 36 percent (9 for 25) from three while going 8 for 13 at the charity stripe.
 
The Blues dominated on the glass, outrebounding the 'Cats 44-33 with 13 offensive rebounds, leading to 13 second chance points, compared to just 6 offensive rebounds and 4 second chance points.
 
Linfield also totaled just eight assists and turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 19 Whitman points off turnovers.
 
Sophomore guard Trey Bryan led the Wildcats as the only player in double-figures with 10 points to go with two rebounds and two steals. It was the fifth straight game in double-digit scoring for Bryant, the longest such streak in his career.
 
Petrovic and Josh Puccinelli each contributed six points apiece as the second leading scorers for the Wildcats. Petrovic also led the team in rebounds with 5.
 
Xzavier Lino led the way for Whitman with 19 points and 11 rebounds while Jai Desphande followed with 16 points and four rebounds off the bench.
 
NEXT
Linfield will look to shake off Friday's game tomorrow night when they host the Whitworth Pirates (10-5, 6-1) at 6:00.
 
They'll then take a one-game break from the conference schedule to host the Illinois Wesleyan Spartans (8-7, 5-3) on Monday at 7:00 in a game rescheduled from Dec. 28.
 
Linfield then returns to Northwest Conference action on Friday, Jan. 27 against Pacific (9-7, 4-3) in McMinnville to start the second half of conference play, followed by a meeting with George Fox (4-11, 3-4) in Newberg on Saturday, Jan. 28.
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