Men’s basketball defeats Loggers, will make first NWC final appearance since 2003 tonight

Davis Hester ('27) jumps for rebound against LaVerne on Nov. 7, 2025 in Cone Field House. Having trailed in their home opener by 15 at the half, the team came back to win in overtime. After their semifinal win last night, head coach Mike Lenahan recalled the game as an example of the team's tenacity from the outset of the season. Photo by Jack Godsil.

The men’s basketball team triumphed 80-75 over the No. 2 seed Puget Sound Loggers in their first Northwest Conference (NWC) playoff appearance in 11 years last night. 

Today, the ’Cats will face the No. 1 seed and NWC tourney hosts, the Whitworth Pirates, whom they’ve lost to twice in the season so far. The game will be streamed from Spokane, Washington on FloSports at 5 p.m.

Following a disappointing 2025 season in which they placed dead last in conference, the Bearcats defied the odds to clinch the finals with a No. 3 NWC finish in the regular season. 

In the semifinal matchup against Puget Sound, the Bearcats saw solid performances from veterans and rookies alike, with Tanner Overby (ʼ28) logging four steals and 20 points, Davis Hester (ʼ27) stepping up to drop 14 points and two steals, including a crucial one late game to seal the game, and Kellen Sande (ʼ27), who had been a solid but relatively quiet presence for the ’Cats in the regular season, leading all scorers with 26 points and blowing his season points-per-game (PPG) average of eight out of the water.

After the game, Sande, who won a high school state championship with Cascade High School, said he thrives on a playoff atmosphere.

“It’s easy to get up for,” he said, “to trust the work you’ve put in and go in confident.”

He gave all “glory and praise to Jesus Christ” and asked that Willamette community members tune into the game tonight.

Willamette was able to overwhelm Puget Sound with their signature lightning-fast play, earning 18 fast break points and 19 points earned off turnovers. The ’Cats were outmatched by the Loggers in offensive rebounds, nabbing just five to the Loggers’ 13, but they were able to bring the Loggers’ tally down from 23 in their last meeting. Still, defensive rebounding will be a main focus tonight in the finals against a big, physical Whitworth side.

Head coach Mike Lenahan said that the Bearcats were able to win by playing with joy and allowing the close game to ebb and flow while remaining confident.

“Over the course of the game there are about 160 possessions,” he said. “Every one matters, but none of them matter too much.”

An unlikely rise

The ʼCats season has thus far been marked by the spectacular rise of Tanner Overby. In the 2024-25 season, the rookie Overby scored 61 points. Heading into the conference final, he has scored 516 points, he holds the school PPG record, which was last set in 1991, and he is the NWC player of the year. He is the first Willamette men’s basketball player to earn player of the year since Mike Ward (ʼ93) did it in 1993, according to the NWC archives.

Like Overby, the squad was nearly all brand-new to the limelight this season. Lenahan wrote to The Collegian that of the 10 players who saw the court the most this year, only one had averaged double-digit minutes last year.

Lenahan himself is new to the program in his third year as head coach. In his own rookie season, he was able to take the squad, which had won only one conference game the season prior, to within a hair’s width of tournament play at No. 5 in the conference, tied for No. 3.

Despite the promising rookie season, last season the team floundered, winning just three conference games. Now, Lenahan’s troops have gone from stat-sheet oversights to championship contenders seemingly in a matter of months.

The Buccs are balling

The Bearcats will take on the Pirates in the conference final today, who bested No. 4 ranked Lewis & Clark last night 76-60.

The Pirates have been utterly dominant in the regular season, only losing two games in conference play and going 20-5 overall. 

The last time the ’Cats made it to the NWC finals in 2003, they fell to Whitworth. Since 1994, the Pirates have won 17 championships and appeared in 22 finals, making them the winningest team in NWC men’s hoops by a wide margin in the 21st century. 

The ’Cats will need to mitigate opposing offensive rebounds and maintain their good defensive form to beat the brutally efficient Pirates. The Buccs specialize in high shot efficiency and lockdown defense, leading the NWC with an opponent field goal percentage of just 38% and a scoring margin of 12.3. 

In layman’s terms, Whitworth averages 12 more points per game than any opponent they face, with Willamette being the next best team in the NWC with 3.7.

The Pirates are led in almost every statistical category by senior Stephen Behil, including points, minutes and defensive rebounds.

If the Bearcats pull off the win, it will be the second year in a row that a team that finished last in NWC men’s basketball standings the prior season came back the next year to win the championship after the River Otters achieved the feat in 2025.

As for the team’s approach tonight, Lenahan said they’re playing to “get to spend another week together.”

Referring to the Bearcats’ two regular season losses to the Buccs, Sande seemed entirely unfazed when speaking over the phone shortly after the team’s semifinal win. 

“They’re going to have to beat us three times,” he said. “It’s tough to beat a good team twice, let alone three times.”