NEWBERG, Ore. – Whitworth could not stop George Fox's offensive onslaught in a 98-85 Northwest Conference men's basketball road loss on Friday night.

The Pirates fell to 10-4 overall, 4-1 in the NWC with their first conference loss of the season.  The Bruins (10-5, 3-2) made nine of their 12 three-pointers in the first half on the way to a 53-39 halftime lead.

Whitworth's initial 3-0 lead on Dustin McConnell's three-pointer was its largest of the game.  The Pirates still led 9-6 after a Taylor Farnsworth layup when the Bruins got hot.  George Fox went on a 22-4 run, including four three-pointers, to go up 28-13 on a layup by Mitchell Rettmann.  A Jonny Howard three-pointer, one of five he would make in the opening half, stretched the George Fox advantage to 36-19.

The Pirates never really made a dent in the lead until late in the second half.  After Jason Martin scored to give the Bruins their largest lead of the game at 92-74, Whitworth used a 10-1 run to get within 93-84 with 1:20 to play.  Gabe Carter and Kenny Love hit threes during that spurt.  But the Bucs could not sustain the momentum.

Dustin McConnell scored a season-high 23 points to lead Whitworth in scoring, making 8-14 from the field (3-7 from three-point range).  He added four assists.  Colton McCargar finished with 14 points, but struggled with his shooting much of the night finishing 6-22 from the field.  Christian Jurlina had 10 points off of the bench.  The Pirates made 43% of their shots in the game.

George Fox remained hot throughout the contest, making 57% from the field, 60% (12-20) from three-point range.  Four Bruins hit double figures, led by A.J. Grant and Howard, who had 21 points each.  Howard finished 6-7 from beyond the arc.  Seth Brent added 18 points and Spencer Bolte scored 14.

After dropping into a first place tie with Whitman and Lewis & Clark, Whitworth will try to get a split of its Oregon trip at Linfield on Saturday night.