SALEM, Ore.. - Weston Crump delivered a game-high 25 points on 12-18 shooting to lead five players in double figures and the Whitman College men's basketball team opened Northwest Conference play with a 99-70 road win at Willamette on Friday night.

Nikola Trifunovic added a double double with 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Blues (2-5, 1-0 NWC) who recorded their largest margin of victory since a 36-point win at Willamette two seasons ago. The Blues dominated the paint (56-24) and scored 21 points off 18 Bearcat turnovers.

Cedric Coward led Willamette (2-4, 0-1 NWC) with 19 points and seven rebounds.

The Blues could not have had a better start to the game. Whitman opened on a 22-2 run led by nine points from Crump. The Blues held the Bearcats to only five points until Jonathan Watts hit a three pointer with 8:51 to play.

Whitman then got hot from beyond the arc to extend the lead to 30 points. Trifunovic drained a pair of three pointers and Alex Pape added another to push the lead to 41-11 with just over five minutes to play until halftime. The Bearcats made an effort to close the game and did so behind the hot shooting of Watts. He hit a pair of three pointers down the stretch to whittle the lead to 17 points by the end of the first half.

The Blues could not find the basket early in the second half and saw Willamette close the gap after a Coward jumper cut the deficit to only 10 points with 17:43 to play. Whitman responded, running off 11 straight points highlighted by three pointers from Grant Hunt and Walter Lum and the Blues were off and running again with a 21-point lead with 14:09 to play.

Whitman never let the Bearcats back into the game again as the lead swelled to as many as 34 points.

The Blues return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 7 at Whitworth. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m.