Whitworth Will Travel To Michigan For Sweet 16

SPOKANE – The Whitworth Pirates learned Sunday that they will be traveling to Michigan to play in the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 on Friday night.

The Pirates earned their way into their first Sweet 16 after beating Occidental 83-75 Saturday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. Northwest Conference Player of the Year Ryan Symes led the Pirates with 24 points, while freshman David Riley added 19.

Whitworth’s next opponent will the Wheaton Thunder, who defeated Lawrence and Loras in Whitewater, Wisconsin over the weekend. The game will be played at Hope College’s DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Michigan on Friday night. That game will start at 3 p.m. Pacific time. The winner of that game will play the winner of the matchup between the Hope Flying Dutchmen and the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops.

The last time Whitworth and Wheaton played was in 2006, when the Pirates beat the Thunder 70-67 at Wheaton’s King Arena. Whitworth holds a 2-1 edge over Wheaton in their all-time series.

This is the first trip to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 for both schools.