PARKLAND, Wash. – Ben College scored a career-high 44 points and tied his own Whitworth record with 11 three-pointers to lead the visiting Pirates to an 87-81 Northwest Conference men's basketball win at Pacific Lutheran on Saturday night.
College scored 32 points in the second half to lead Whitworth (15-4 overall, 9-1 NWC) to its 31st straight win over the Lutes (9-10, 5-5).
The game looked like a runaway early as the Pirates made 8 of their first 14 three-pointers. College opened the game with a three before Whitworth jumped ahead 17-5 on a three by Reed Brown. The Bucs stretched the lead to 28-11 on a Liam Fitzgerald three and then went ahead 35-13 when College drained another trey. But PLU closed the half on a 16-6 run to get within 41-29 at halftime.
The Lutes continued their charge in the second half. Leighton Kingma's free throw pulled PLU to within 46-45 and the Lutes evened things up at 50-50 on Seth Hall's three-pointer. College answered with a three-pointer and hit another two minutes later to stretch the margin back to 59-52. He continued his torrid shooting and gave Whitworth a 78-64 lead with just over four minutes left. At that point College had scored 30 of Whitworth's 36 second half points. PLU was able to get within 83-76 but Fitzgerald and College went 4-4 from the free throw line in the final minute to keep the Pirates ahead.
College made 11 of 16 three-pointers and went 5-5 at the free throw line. He surpassed his previous career high of 41 points set at Wooster (Ohio) at the end of December.
Fitzgerald was the only other Pirate in double figures with 12 points. He added seven rebounds and blocked three shots. Chewey Zevenbergen came off the bench for some key minutes in the post, finishing with six points and four rebounds. Whitworth finished the game 50% (29-58) from the field and 57% (17-30) from three-point range, tying the season-high for three-pointers in a game.
PLU was able to stay in the game by going to the free throw line 34 times, making 21 attempts. Hall led PLU with 23 points. Kingma, the two-time NWC men's basketball Student-Athlete of the Week, finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Thomas added 18 points and seven assists and three steals.
Whitworth, alone in second place in the NWC standings, will return to the road next weekend with games at Lewis & Clark and Willamette.