SPOKANE, Wash. – In possibly his final home game as a Pirate, senior forward Sam Lees led Whitworth University to an 83-76 win over visiting George Fox in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Saturday night.
Lees scored 25 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished three assists to help the Bucs improve to 19-4 overall and 13-1 in the NWC. The Pirates won their 13th straight game over the Bruins (8-15, 4-10), but it was George Fox that last handed Whitworth a defeat on a Senior Night in 2013.
The Pirates scored the first six points of the game and led 11-3 after a breakaway dunk and a free throw by Liam Fitzgerald. The Bruins fought back to within 14-13 on JD Ahlstrom's three-pointer before Whitworth extended the margin back to 24-18 on JT McDermott's basket. Reed Brown's three-pointer increased the Pirate lead to 32-24, but George Fox clawed back again to within 36-33 at halftime on a pair of free throws by Micahael Mercado-Smith.
Trailing 47-42 five minutes into the second half, the Bruins used a 6-0 run to take their first lead on Ahlstrom's layup. The teams traded leads twice before Whitworth used a 7-0 spurt to go ahead 57-51 on another Brown three-pointer with 10:39 to go. The Pirates never trailed again. After George Fox got back within 63-62 on Ryan Lacey's free throw, Whitworth began to pull away and stretched the margin to 76-66 on a pair of Ben College free throws with just over two minutes left.
Lees made 10 of 15 field goals and five of six free throws for the second-highest point total of his career. College and Garrett Hull, Lees' fellow seniors, added 16 and 10 points, respectively. Isaiah Hernandez scored a dozen points off the bench. Liam Fitzgerald's 11 rebounds helped Whitworth finish with a 37-35 edge on the boards. The Pirates made 47% of their field goals, but were strong at the free throw line (22-26).
Lacey led George Fox with 16 points, while Kalu Stricklin scored 12 and Ahlstrom finished with 10. Stricklin led the team with six boards.
Whitworth heads into the final week of the regular season tied with Whitman for first place in the NWC standings, and one game ahead of Linfield. The Pirates will play at Whitman on Tuesday and finish the regular season at Linfield on Saturday.