SPOKANE, Wash. – Colton Looney scored 20 points in his first start of the season, leading 18th-ranked Whitworth to a 77-62 win over visiting Linfield in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The Pirates never trailed while improving to 15-2 overall and 6-2 in the NWC. The Wildcats dropped to 6-10, 3-4 heading into a contest at first place Whitman on Saturday night.
Whitworth scored the first five points and got out to a 12-2 lead. Looney and Stephen Behil each hit a three in the opening run. Another Looney three stretched the advantage to 25-8 seven minutes into the game. Garrett Long's layin extended the lead to 33-12 and Behil's jumper gave the Bucs their largest lead of the first half (37-15) with just over four minutes to go. Looney finished with 18 first half points, including four treys, to lift the Bucs to a 41-23 lead at the break. Whitworth made 17 of 30 field goal attempts (56.7%) in the first half, including 5-12 (42%) from three-point range. Linfield made only 11 of 35 from the floor (31.4%), including 1-10 from beyond the arc.
The Pirates scored the first seven points of the second half, including five by Behil, to open their largest lead of the game at 48-23 only 90 seconds into the period. After the Wildcats drew within 50-31 on a layup by Cade Collins, Whitworth retook a 25-point advantage (60-35) on Dylan Westermeyer's layup with 12 minutes to play. Linfield made another run to get within 64-48 on Jake Downing's three-pointer before the Bucs extended the margin back to 70-48 on Ben Nyquist's layup with 6:47 to play. Behil's final three of the game made it 76-52 with 3:32 left, clinching the final result.
Long scored 16 points and dished four assists, while Behil totaled 15 points and eight boards to give Whitworth three players in double figures in scoring. The Pirates finished the game 31-57 from the floor (54.4%) and 9-21 from three-point range (43%). The Bucs also had a 39-30 advantage in rebounds.
Garrett Callsen led Linfield with 16 points and five rebounds, while Downing scored 14 off the bench. The Wildcats improved their shooting significantly in the second half and finished the game 28-63 from the floor (44.4%) and 4-19 from three-point range (21.1%).