WALLA WALLA, Wash.  There's a new system of play in the Northwest Conference, inspired specifically by the hopes of competing with Whitman, and as long as it's around, it will force opponents to be disciplined in unique, challenging ways.

But the style and pace to which this system aspire remain inviolable Blues trademarks, and the corner of Pressure & Tempo is still 47 S. Park in Walla Walla.

Whitman absorbed the first pass by the University of Puget Sound's new "Buzzsaw" system, then scattered saw-teeth around the Sherwood Athletic Center in a 136-109 victory that tied the top-ranked Blues with Whitworth for the longest regular-season conference winning streak in Northwest Conference history.

Whitman's 33rd consecutive NWC regular-season victory served as a mini-showcase for the Blues' three exceptionally viable conference MVP candidates, saw the team shoot 63.5 percent from the field, and marked its highest single-game scoring output since a 153-149 loss against Redlands on Jan. 3, 2007.

And that's after the Loggers opened the game by extending a 22-9 lead.

"(UPS) was ready to play and hit us first," Whitman head coach Eric Bridgeland said. "They make games incredibly tough on your composure and flow. I was proud of our guys for digging in."

On their home soil, the Blues (18-0, 9-0 in NWC) wasted little time in throwing down deep roots. The early adversity, rather than rattling the home team, supplied a familiar jolt and inspired an even more familiar reprisal. Down nine around the 10-minute mark of the first half, Whitman proceeded to outscore UPS 43-19, with Tim Howell's deep 3-pointer -- off-balance, falling out of bounds, over two defenders -- splashing just before the horn for recess.

Whitman's starting five shot 80 percent from the floor (36 of 45) in the game.

"We're a group that has been together and made deep tournament runs, with a core that has taken a lot of hits," said junior Austin Butler. "We know it's a long game, especially with our style of play. We were confident we'd take care of it."

"I love (the Loggers') style of play. I'm always in transition," added Howell. "If another team wants to play fast, that gets me going."

Howell, Butler and Joey Hewitt each added to their already compelling cases for All-American recognition. Howell, whose dribble drive- and tear-drop arsenals are the bane of ankles everywhere, made 11 of 13 shots for 29 points. Hewitt hit 10 of 14 from the field, 8 of 12 at the line, scored a game-high 31 points, and had five assists, five rebounds and three steals. Butler messed around and nearly got a quadruple-double, with 17 points, 11 rebounds, a career-high nine steals and eight assists. He also blocked three shots, didn't miss a field goal and had zero turnovers.

Bridgeland said that, had he known Butler (24 minutes) was so close to reaching double figures in four statistical categories, he'd have played him more.

As it were, no Whitman player saw more than 26 minutes, which was plenty ample to enable a variety of seismically impactful contributions. Ben Beatie made 7 of 9 shots and finished with 15 points and six rebounds. His breakaway dunk with 4:25 left in the first half set the entire backboard -- and the standard which attaches it to the ceiling of the Sherwood Center -- shaking, and gave Whitman its first taste of a double-digit lead that would grow to as large as 31 points. Trevor Osborne added 13 points, including 10 during an early three-minute span of the second half which essentially converted the final 17 minutes into an academic matter.

"We just went back to our game-plan," Osborne said. "We didn't execute it early. We started finding their shooters. We played better defense in the second half."

"Austin, Jack (Stewart), Joey, Trev, they picked up the energy," added Howell. "I was definitely feeling good."

The Loggers never stopped playing hard, and the conference's leading scorer, Jimmy Wohrer, kept his grip on that distinction with 28 points, including six made 3-pointers. But the Blues turned UPS over 22 times, out-rebounded it by 10 and allowed just nine made 3-pointers, more than four under the Loggers' per-game average -- which is top-10, nationally.

"Our coaches made just great adjustments," said Butler, referring to the tweaks incorporated following a much closer contest against UPS in Tacoma, in December. "We backed our press off and took away their deep outlets.

"Our players are specifically skilled to play in this system," he added. "I think we're a little better suited to this tempo."

The Blues host Pacific Lutheran University at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Notes: Whitman won its final eight NWC games of the 2015-16 regular season, all 16 last season and the first nine this year. Whitworth won 33 consecutive regular-season games between the 08-09 and 10-11 seasons.