SPOKANE, Wash. – Taking advantage of its best team shooting night of the season, Whitworth held off visiting Whitman 95-89 in a Northwest Conference men's basketball matchup between nationally-ranked opponents on Tuesday night.
The 2nd-ranked Pirates made 57% (32-56) of their shots from the field to improve to 12-0 overall and 3-0 in the NWC. It was their 19th consecutive win at home. The 25th-ranked Missionaries dropped to 10-2, 2-1.
Christian Jurlina scored a game-high 21 points to lead five Whitworth players who reached double figures in scoring.
Christian McDonald scored six early points to spark Whitman to a 9-2 lead in the first two minutes of the game. Whitworth fought back to take its first lead of the game when Jurlina's jumper made it 19-18 eight minutes into the opening half. The teams traded leads three times over the next five minutes. After McDonald hit a pair of free throws to pull the visitors to within 47-46, the Pirates outscored the Missionaries 7-0 over the final two minutes of the period to open a 54-46 lead at halftime.
Whitworth continued the momentum into the early minutes of the second half, stretching the lead to 69-57 on George Valle's fastbreak layup five minutes in. But Whitman dug in defensively, outscoring the Bucs 14-2 over the next six minutes to pull even at 71-71 on Austin Butler's layup with under ten minutes to play.
Whitworth regrouped and used its own 16-4 run to retake an 87-75 lead with 4:52 to play. Kenny Love scored seven of those points, including his only three-pointer of the game. Whitman pulled back as close as 92-86 with 1:23 to play, but Matt Staudacher hit a baseline jumper near the end of the shot clock on Whitworth's next possession to essentially clinch the game with 53 seconds left.
The Pirates also had their best shooting night of the season from beyond the arc, making 48% (11-23) of their three-point attempts. And they made 18 of their first 20 free throws before finishing the game 20-26 (77%) from the charity stripe. Whitworth committed only 11 turnovers against Whitman's pressure defense.
Jurlina added six boards, three assists and two steals to his 21 points. Valle finished with 19 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Love scored 18 and dished eight assists. Staudacher and Forest Baker each scored ten.
Tim Howell led Whitman with 20 points while Evan Martin finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. McDonald scored 13 and Phillip Chircu added ten. Whitman made 50% (29-58) from the floor.
Whitworth will return to action on Friday night at Pacific (Ore.).