WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Despite 21 points from senior Connor Martin, the St. Olaf College men's basketball team began its season with an 80-64 loss to Whitman College on Friday night at Sherwood Athletic Center.

Martin was the joint leading scorer on the night with his 21 points for St. Olaf (0-1), but the Oles were just 4-for-17 (23.5 percent) from three-point range in the game, while Whitman (1-0) was 9-for-21 (42.9 percent). The Blues shot at a 49.2 percent clip (30-for-61) overall on the night and had four scorers in double figures in the victory.

Whitman received votes in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top 25 and was tabbed the preseason favorite in the Northwest Conference following a 22-5 season a year ago. The game was just the second-ever meeting between the Oles and Blues after then-ninth-ranked Whitman defeated St. Olaf by a 108-78 score on Nov. 18, 2016.

Martin was 9-for-15 from the field on his way to a team-high 21 points while adding three rebounds, five assists, and two steals in 33 minutes of action. Sophomore Kobe Kirk was the lone other double-figure scorer for St. Olaf with 13 points on 5-for-12 shooting to go with a team-high five rebounds, two steals, and a block.

Whitman jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the first 2:01 of the game before St. Olaf answered with a 10-7 run that included five-straight points from Martin to take the lead. Jai Deshpande scored seven of his 16 first-half points for the Blues in the span of 30 seconds to give the hosts a 16-12 lead, but the Oles countered with a 5-0 burst to go back on top.

The 17-16 advantage eight minutes in was the last lead of the night for St. Olaf, however, as Whitman gradually built a 40-32 halftime lead. The Blues led by as many as 13 at 38-25 in the opening half before Kirk had back-to-back buckets for the Oles, as St. Olaf went into the locker room down by eight despite shooting 48.1 percent (13-for-27) from the field in the half.

The Oles whittled their deficit to just five at 44-39 three minutes into the second half, but that was as close as St. Olaf could get the rest of the way, as Whitman scored the next seven points to balloon its lead to 51-39. The Blues maintained a lead of at least eight points the rest of the game and led by as many as 20 down the stretch.

Deshpande was 8-for-11 from the field while scoring a team-high 21 points in 24 minutes for the hosts. Isaiah Amato contributed 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting off the bench, while Grant Hunt and Jander Cline scored 11 points apiece.

St. Olaf closes out its trip to Washington with a game at Whitworth University on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. CST.