SPOKANE, Wash. – Jake Holtz scored 29 points and Garrett Hall added 24 to lead Whitworth University to its first Northwest Conference men's basketball win of the season with a 97-88 victory over visiting University of Puget Sound on Saturday night.
The Pirates bounced back from a loss to Pacific Lutheran in Friday's conference opener to improve to 10-1 overall and 1-1 in the NWC. The Loggers dropped to 5-6 and 0-2.
"We did not have an opportunity to correct last night's issues in practice, so it was important for our guys to come out and will themselves to this win," said Whitworth head coach Damion Jablonski.
Whitworth led 37-35 at the half after Holtz scored 14 of his points. Puget Sound took an early 12-9 lead on a basket by Hugo Rutherford before the Bucs responded with an 11-2 run to go ahead 20-14 on a three-pointer by Diego Jaques. The Pirates took their largest lead of the half at 37-30 on a Holtz jumper, but the Loggers were able to pull within two at the break by outscoring Whitworth 5-0 in the final three minutes. Whitworth helped the UPS cause by turning the ball over nine times in the first half.
A key run came early in the second half. Leading 49-46 after the first media timeout after halftime, Whitworth went on a 12-2 run to go ahead 61-48 before Will Pohland ended the run with a three-pointer for UPS. Ben Nyquist scored half of the points in that Pirates' run. The Loggers were able to cut the margin below ten when Taj Phillips converted a four-point play. Pohland followed with a three-pointer to get UPS within 67-61 with just under nine minutes to play. Ty Edwards answered with a tough basket inside and Stephen Behil followed a scramble for a loose ball with a trey to get the lead back to 11 points (72-61). The Loggers got another four-point play from Pohland to cut the margin to 86-77 and Phillips followed with three free throws 30 seconds later to get UPS within 86-80. Whitworth went 11 of 12 at the free throw line in the final two minutes to secure the win. Long went 8-8 at the line in that stretch. Perhaps most important, the Pirates did not commit a turnover after halftime.
"It was great that we took such good care of the ball in the second half and found ways to get our guards to the basket, where they took advantage at the free throw line," Jablonski said.
Whitworth made 51.7% of its shots, including 56% after halftime. The Pirates went 29 of 33 (88%) from the free throw line in the game, their best night at the stripe this season. Holtz's 29 points was a season-high and only three points shy of his career high and added a team-high eight rebounds. Long battled through foul trouble to score 16 of his points in the second half. Jaques added 18 points and Ty Edwards added 11.
Phillips scored 26 and Pohland had 21 for the Loggers, who went 11 of 10 (55%) from the three-point line. UPS turned the ball over 20 times in the game.
Whitworth will return to action against Willamette at home next Friday.