The Pioneers fell 69-62 to the Whitworth Pirates Saturday afternoon in Spokane. Gene Rivera scored 13 points to lead the Pioneers.

The Whitworth Pirates took advantage of a cold-shooting Pioneer team, jumping out to an early lead. The Pirates pushed their advantage to nine before the Pioneer offense heated up. The Pioneers went on a 12-3 run with a Joey Toboni (junior, San Francisco, Calif.) jumper giving the Pioneers a 22-21 lead. The Pirates shot their way back into the lead, holding a 35-32 advantage with 3.2 seconds left in the half. Thomas Tillery (junior, Portland, Ore.) found a wide-open Toboni at the opposite end of the court to hit a buzzer-beater to make it a one-point halftime deficit, 35-34.

With the score tied 41-41 with 16 minutes left in the game, Corey Allen (sophomore, Portland, Ore.) hit a jumper to put the Pioneers up two. Whitworth answered with a three-pointer. The Pioneers tied the game again, this time at 53-53, on a Thomas Tillery layup. Just when momentum seemed to swing in the Pioneers' favor, they went ice cold from the field, not making another field goal until there were less than thirty seconds left in the game on a Gene Rivera (junior, Kahului, Hawaii) layup. Whitworth extended the lead to ten, 69-59, when the the Pioneers' Joey Toboni launched a desperation three-quarter shot at the buzzer, making it a 69-62 final.

Selections for the post-season tournament are officially announced Sunday night. The Pirates will advance to the NCAA III National Tournament with the Conference's automatic bid. The Pioneers, who have not cracked the regional rankings this season, did not earn an at-large bid to the National tournament. The Northest Conference Co-Champion Pioneers ended their season with a 19-7 overall record. The loss snapped a ten-game win streak. Whitworth improves to 23-3 as they move on to the National tournament.