Spokane marks the end of the road once again for Panthers
SPOKANE, Wash. – The familiar road to Whitworth ended at familiar dead-end for the Chapman University men's basketball team. For the second year in a row, Whitworth University – ranked No. 1 in all of Division III – handed the Panthers a season-ending 77-63 loss in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball championships on Saturday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
Chapman (25-4) saw its season start to slip away early in the second half. Leading by 13 points coming out of the intermission, Whitworth (27-1) went on a 16-6 run to open the second period and took its largest lead of the game 56-33 at the 14:43 mark.
The Panthers made a 9-2 run midway through the half to cut the Pirates lead to 13. Junior G Takeshi Clifford made a pair of free throws with 7:11 to play to make the score 62-49 in favor of Whitworth, but that was as close as the Panthers would get. Clifford was one of four Panthers to reach double-digits with 11 points off the bench.
Whitworth led from start to finish, jumping out to a double-digit lead within the first 10 minutes of the game. The Pirates led 11-3 and 17-5 to open the contest. Chapman held steady over the next 10 minutes with juniors Brandon Lin and Andrew Avalos combining for 19 first-half points and the Panthers were down 40-27 at the half.
Felix Friedt paced the top-ranked Pirates with a double-double – 23 points, 13 rebounds – in the game, and added a pair of steals. Whitworth was 11 of 25 from three-point range, including four triples each from Mike Taylor (21 points, six assists) and David Riley (15 points).
For the Panthers, Lin finished with a team-high 15 points and Avalos pitched in 11 off the bench. The two combined to make five three-pointers and had seven assists. Chapman's big two: senior F Justin Riley (10 points, seven rebounds) and senior G Griffin Ramme (six points, eight rebounds) were held in check by the Whitworth defense, combining to go just 3-for-16 from the field.
Chapman had its 12-game winning streak snapped – a streak that saw the Panthers tie a school-record with 25 wins this season (matching the Panthers' 25-3 record set in 1935-36).
It was all a bad case of déjà vu for the Panthers who also advanced to the second round of NCAA tournament last March and traveled to Spokane to face the Pirates. Whitworth won by a 21-point margin a year ago.
by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/boxscores/20110305_gx56.xml