Written by Mark Colachico, Contributing Writer
SALEM, Ore. -- Despite a pair of double-doubles by Ben Sutton (Jr., F, Seattle, WA/Ingraham HS) and Cade Whicker (Fy., F, Fruit Heights, UT/Davis HS), Willamette University men's basketball team dropped its final non-conference game of the season falling to the Wildcats of Louisiana College, 80-69, on Monday evening Dec. 30 inside Cone Field House.
With the loss, Willamette concludes its non-conference schedule at 1-9 overall. Meanwhile, Louisiana College closes out its two-game swing through the state of Oregon with a perfect 2-0 record improving to 6-3 overall this season.
Sutton led the Bearcats with a team-high 16 points to go along with a team-high tying 11 rebounds. Whicker added 11 points and tied Sutton with 11 rebounds while handing out a game-high six assists. Justus Eaglesmith (Jr., G, Sparks, NV/Spanish Springs HS) and Alec Barba (Jr., G, Dallas, OR/Central HS) also scored in double figures for the Bearcats with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Jack Boydell (Fr., F, Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley HS) aided Sutton and Whicker on the boards with seven rebounds, while Daniel Plumer (Fy., PG, North Las Vegas, NV/Democracy Preparatory Academy) handed out four assists to go along with two steals.
Louisiana College was led by a game-high 27 points by Kae'ron Baker, who went 8-for-12 from the field paired with a 6-for-10 performance from beyond the three-point arc. Two other Wildcats -- Denzel Austin and KJ Bilbo -- also scored in double figures with 18 and 10 points, respectively. Baker pulled down a team-high eight rebounds to go along with a team-high five assists from Jaylen Rhone.
Willamette jumped ahead by nine points over the opening three-plus minutes, as Barba came off the bench to knock down a 3-pointer with 16:27 on the clock en route to the Bearcats earning a 16-7 lead. Over the next three minutes, the visiting Wildcats used a 12-2 run to pull ahead by one point, 19-18, on a 3-pointer by Austin with just over 13 minutes left on the clock. Each team would trade baskets over the next four minutes before Willamette stretched a 24-23 lead to six points at 29-23 on back-to-back free throws by Whicker with 8:01 left in the first half. The host Bearcats would see their lead increase to seven points, 39-32, on another Barba three-pointer with 3:44 remaining, before Louisiana closed the opening half on a 10-3 run to tie things at 42-all heading into intermission.
Coming out of the locker room, Willamette pushed its lead to five points, 47-42, on a 3-pointer by Eaglesmith a mere 64 seconds into the second half. Unfortunately, Louisiana battled back to take the lead at 51-50, before Barba knocked down a jump shot with just under 14 minutes remaining to put Willamette ahead 52-51. Those were the final points that the Bearcats scored over the next six-plus minutes, as Louisiana used a 12-0 run to pull ahead 63-52 on an Austin 3-pointer with 8:43 remaining in the game. The visiting Wildcats pushed their run to 18-3 en route to pulling ahead by 14 points, 69-55, on a Baker 3-pointer with 7:31 on the clock.
Louisiana led by as much as 17 points, 79-62, with just over two minutes left, before Willamette scored seven straight points to pull within 79-69 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Eaglesmith with 41 seconds left. Unfortunately that was as close as the Bearcats would get thanks to a free throw by Aaron McGhee for the final margin of 80-69.
As a team, Willamette combined to shoot 25-for-62 (40.3%) from the field in the game. Meanwhile, the Bearcats were also 11-for-27 (40.7%) from behind the 3-point line and 8-for-14 (57.1%) at the free throw line. On the other hand, Louisiana was a combined 27-for-66 (40.9%) from the field, 13-for-37 (35.1%) from long distance, and 13-for-19 (68.4%) at the charity stripe.
Next up for Willamette will be the turning of the calendar to 2020, as the Bearcats travel north to Newberg, Oregon, to take on the Bruins of George Fox University in a Northwest Conference game beginning at 8:00 p.m. (PST) on Friday, Jan. 3.
