Blues season comes to a close

Whitman College's men's basketball season came to a close Saturday night one round shy of the Final Four. The Blues lost to Nebraska Wesleyan University 130-97, with senior guard Tim Howell '18 leading all Whitman scorers with 27 points.

Whitman found themselves in unfamiliar territory early, facing a 13-point deficit. Head coach Eric Bridgeland called a timeout less than five minutes into the contest in hopes his team would regain their composure. Unfortunately, no answer was found. At halftime, Whitman faced an uphill battle as the Prairie Wolves led 67-41.

Basketball player goes up for a shot While baskets were hard to come by for the Blues, NWU could not miss as they shot an unprecedented 70 percent from the field and 7-for-10 from beyond the arch in the opening 20 minutes.

Whitman was able to put points on the board in the second half, but a combination of early foul calls and the Prairie Wolves being red hot from the field eliminated any hope of a Blues comeback.

The Blues won the Northwest Conference regular season title for the second straight year, entered the NCAA Tournament as the number one team in the country and tallied a remarkable 29 wins.

The Blues will return all but one player for the 2018-19 season.