SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates were not able to get a game tying or go-ahead basket to fall in the final seconds of a 75-73 loss to Pacific Lutheran in a Northwest Conference men's basketball matchup on Friday night.
The Lutes (4-6) shot 56.7% in the second half to pull out the win while the Pirates' (9-1) suffered their first loss of the season.
Both offenses struggled to score in the first three minutes of action with just one PLU basket on the scoreboard. Jake Holtz sparked a trio of three-point baskets that gave Whitworth a 9-7 at the 15:12 mark. The teams battled back and forth for the majority of the first half that included nine lead changes.
A driving layup by Ben Tellez gave the Lutes their largest lead of the half 27-22 with 4:10 remaining in the first period. The Pirates answered and finished the half on a 9-4 run capped by a Ben Nyquist layup. Whitworth shot 42.3% from the field and led 31-29 at the break. Holtz led with 10 points and Garrett Long had seven.
The Lutes started the second half strong and made six of their first eight shots. The Pirates withstood the hot shooting a took a 38-35 lead with 17:37 to play. Three minutes later, PLU made back-to-back three-pointers before a Tellez layup gave the Lutes their largest lead of the game 50-43.
Whitworth once again would battle back as a Caden Bateman layup gave the Pirates their first lead in over 10 minutes of game time at 60-59 with 7:19 remaining. After a baseline pass from Ty Edwards, Nyquist nailed a three-pointer to tie the game at 69. PLU responded with a three of their own on the other end heading into crunch time.
With 90 seconds to go, Holtz drew a foul and made two free throws to get within one. Miles Nash hit a turnaround jumper on the other end to give the Lutes a 74-71 lead with 30 seconds to go. The Pirates went to again who made a layup to get back within one with just 18 seconds left. Whitworth fouled and sent Tellez to the free throw line with a 74-73 lead. He missed the second free throw and gave Whitworth a chance to tie or take the lead with seven seconds remaining.
After a timeout, the ball was inbounded to Garrett Long who had the ball stripped and committed a foul that led to free throws. The free throw was missed and Stephen Behil grabbed the rebound, but his heave didn't fall at the buzzer.
"We did what we needed to do offensively to win the game, but didn't show up enough defensively to get it done," said Whitworth head coach Damion Jablonski after the game.
In a game that held 12 ties and 12 lead changes, the Pirates shot 47.5% from the field and 40% (8-20) from beyond the arc. PLU had an advantage in rebounds at 34-32 and finished the game with a 49.2 shooting percentage from the field.
Holtz led Whitworth with 23 points and seven rebounds. Long had 15 and added three steals while Behil scored 14. Nyquist grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and had nine points off the bench.
Tellez led PLU with 23 points on 5-9 three-point attempts and Brandon Riedel scored 13.
The Pirate men host Puget Sound on Saturday at 4:00pm.