SPOKANE, Wash. – Kenny Love and Kyle Roach combined for 45 points to lead Whitworth to an 87-63 win over visiting Schreiner in the finale of the Quality Inn Whit Classic on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The 12th-ranked Pirates improved to 3-0 while the Mountaineers fell to 1-5.
Love scored 25 points and Roach added 20. They combined to make 9-16 from three-point range and 6-6 from the free throw line. Both also had four assists and a pair of steals.
Schreiner led once in the game, after scoring the opening basket. Love answered with his first three of the game and Whitworth never trailed from that point. The Mountaineers did not go quietly however, pulling into a 12-12 tie on Blake Kelley's three-pointer. Once again Love answered with a three-pointer and the Bucs eventually stretched the margin to 43-30 on a Roach three-pointer. Whitworth led 45-34 at the break.
Ben Bishop's basket gave the Pirates a 55-41 lead five minutes into the second half. But Schreiner had another surge, getting to within 59-53 on Wes Miller's free throws with 11:30 to go. Whitworth scored the next eight points and never led by less than double-digits the rest of the way. The Pirates steadily extended their lead over the final seven minutes, reaching a margin of 25 points (82-57) with 2:55 to go.
Saturday's win was much more of a physical, grind-it-out kind of game than Friday's high-scoring victory over Texas Lutheran.
"Schreiner was a very physical team and they presented a great test to our interior," said head coach Matt Logie. "Our big guys got some good exposure tonight and it showed we can have success playing different styles."
Whitworth shot 51.7% (30-58) from the field, including 50% (11-22) from three-point range. Once again the Pirates were nearly perfect at the free throw line, making 16-17 (94.1%). Christian Jurlina added ten points to give the Bucs three players in double figures and Whitworth finished with a 38-33 edge in rebounding. Drew Sears totaled nine boards, eight points and three blocks.
Kelley led the Mountaineers with 14 points off of the bench. Nathan Robbins scored 12 and Keenan Gumbs finished with 11. Schreiner was 23-59 (39.0%) from the field, 7-22 (31.8%) from beyond the arc.
Whitworth returns to action next Saturday when the Pirates open Northwest Conference play at Willamette University.
Whitman 98, Texas Lutheran 82
The Blues survived a foul-plagued contest that featured 82 combined free throws to improve to 3-0 this season. The Bulldogs dropped to 3-2.
Already playing without preseason All-American Sterling Holmes, TLU had to compete without starting forward Zach Behr, who picked up consecutive technical fouls very early in the contest after an altercation with Whitman's Christian McDonald. But the Bulldogs hung close to the 9th-ranked Blues in the first half, trailing 53-50 at halftime.
Whitman was able to keep TLU at arms-length most of the second half despite the fact that three Blues fouled out of the game. Jase Harrison led five Whitman players in double figures with 22 points off of the bench. Austin Butler filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, nine rebounds, eight steals, five assists and two blocked shots.
Matthew Gillette led the Bulldogs with a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds. He went 16-18 at the free throw line.