Box Score NEWBERG, Ore. – Christian Jurlina led five players in double figures as visiting Whitworth rolled to an 89-68 win at George Fox in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Saturday night.
Jurlina poured in a game-high 23 points as the Pirates improved to 13-2 overall and 6-0 in the NWC with their 12th straight win. Whitworth now has a two-game lead in the league standings following Whitman's two-point loss at Pacific.
Jurlina's effort highlighted a very efficient offensive performance for Whitworth. The Bucs made 55.6% (35-63) of their shots from the field. Jurlina was 7-11 overall and 3-3 from three-point range. He also led the Pirates with four assists.
"Our guys executed very well offensively and really took care of the ball against their defensive pressure," said head coach Matt Logie. "That led to some quality shots."
George Valle added 19 points and Matt Staudacher scored 13. Taylor Farnsworth and Kenny Love finished with ten apiece.
The teams traded leads early on and George Fox took a 15-12 lead on a layup by JJ Lacey. But Whitworth then went on a 9-0 run and never trailed again. Jurlina had five of those points and Love had four. Alberto de Miguel's layup gave the Pirates their largest lead of the first half (37-23) before George Fox closed to within 43-33 at halftime on Jonny Howard's basket with nine seconds left.
The Pirates stretched the lead to 54-35 on Valle's basket early in the second half. By the time Derek Isaak hit a three-pointer to increase the margin to 66-42 with just over 12 minutes to play, the game had been decided.
Howard led George Fox with 15 points and Lacey chipped in 14.
Whitworth returns home to host Puget Sound (Friday) and Pacific Lutheran (Saturday) next weekend.
