SALEM, Ore. – Trailing by a point with three minutes to play, visiting Whitworth outscored Willamette 9-0 down the stretch to pull out a 64-56 win over Willamette in the Northwest Conference men's basketball opener for both schools on Friday night at Cone Field House.

The Pirates improved to 8-2 overall and 1-0 in the NWC with their seventh straight victory.  The Bearcats dropped to 2-8, 0-1.

It was a defensive struggle as both teams had trouble shooting the ball and turned the ball over multiple times.  Whitworth was only 19-56 (33.9%) from the field and finished with a season-high 24 turnovers. Willamette was 20-62 (32.3%) and turned the ball over 20 times.  The Bearcats went 9-21 (42.9%) from three-point range to give themselves a chance of knocking off the Pirates, but the Pirates went 19-24 at the free throw line to outscore the hosts by a dozen points at the charity stripe.

"Obviously we played some uncharacteristic basketball," said head coach Matt Logie.  "But coming off of a seven day break a team can lose its rhythm."

Four Pirates hit double figures in scoring, led by Christian Jurlina's 17 points, 11 of those in the second half.  Kenny Love scored 15, while Taylor Farnsworth and George Valle added 14 and 12 respectively.  Valle and Farnsworth posted double-doubles with 12 and 11 rebounds, helping the Pirates gain a 49-34 edge on the boards.

"Our guys battled, especially our captains – Taylor and George – who worked really hard to give us extra possessions," Logie said.

There were 11 lead changes throughout the contest.  After the Pirates opened an early 13-7 lead the Bearcats went on a 13-0 run to take their largest lead of the contest.  But Whitworth responded with with its own 12-2 burst to retake control.  The Pirates appeared poised to take a four-point lead into halftime, but Jared Baumgartner drained a three-pointer from the corner as time expired to pull the Bearcats to within 37-36.

Whitworth held Willamette scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half, but could not take full advantage since the Pirates were limited to only three points of their own.  That allowed the Bearcats to rally to a 45-42 lead with under ten minutes to play.  The teams continued to change leads until Nico Troplent hit two free throws to give Willamette a 56-55 lead with 3:19 to go.

But that's the last points the Bearcats would get against the Whitworth defense.  Valle's layup gave the Pirates the lead back and Farnsworth scored put-back basket with 1:21 to go to gain a three-point lead.  After another defensive stop Whitworth worked its possession deep into the shot clock and Love hit a three-pointer from the corner to give the Bucs a 62-56 lead with 31 seconds left.

Jurlina clinched it with two free throws with 15 seconds left.

"I was glad to see our guys make very big plays down the stretch," Logie said.  "They played with poise under pressure on the road."

Tropulent and Bridger Harlington scored 15 points apiece for Willamette.

Whitworth concludes its NWC-opening weekend with a game at Lewis & Clark on Saturday night.