SPOKANE, Wash. – Kenny Love scored all 16 of his points in the second half and Christian Jurlina posted a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead Whitworth to a hard-fought 65-57 win over visiting Whitman in a Northwest Conference men's basketball showdown on Tuesday night.

The Pirates won their ninth straight game to improve to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in the NWC.  The Missionaries dropped to 8-4, 2-1 and saw a four-game winning streak come to an end.

It was a tough defensive struggle all night.  Whitworth won despite shooting only 37% (22-59) from the field and only 10% (2-20) from three-point range.  Whitman was held to 30.4% (21-69) and only made 2-21 (9.5%) from beyond the arc.  Whitman committed 16 turnovers and Whitworth had 15.

"You have to give credit to both defenses for making it such a challenge on the offensive end all night," said Whitworth head coach Matt Logie.

The game may have been won at the free throw line where the Pirates made 19-25 (76%), including 10-11 (91%) in the second half.  The Missionaries made only 13-26 (50%) of their free throws, 5-12 (42%) after halftime.

The game was tied 30-30 at the break as neither team led by more than three points in the first half.  Whitworth's three-point lead came in the opening minutes when Taylor Farnsworth made two free throws for a 6-3 advantage.  The Missionaries' three-point lead came late when Phillip Chircu drained a three-point shot for a 24-21 Whitman margin.  There were eight ties and 11 lead changes in the first half alone.

The back and forth trend continued into the second half.  There were five more ties and six lead changes before Whitman took its largest lead after Rolaun Dunham scored five straight points on his own to put the Missionaries ahead 52-48 with just under seven minutes to play.

But Whitworth scored the next seven points, capped by Forrest Baker's three-point play, to take a lead it wouldn't give away again.

"I thought Forest's basket was a tremendous play that really turned momentum in our favor," Logie said.  "His contribution was huge with George (Valle) in foul trouble."

In fact, from the time Whitman led by four Whitworth outscored the Missionaries 18-5 the rest of the way.  Love went 6-6 at the free throw line in the final minutes to help seal the victory.

"Kenny hit some big free throws and made a couple of really tough baskets," Logie said.

Jurlina had 14 of his points in the opening half and finished with 18 to lead all players.  His rebound total is a season-high and he had his first double-double of the year.  Love went 4-7 from the field and 7-7 from the free throw line in the second half to account for his 16 points.  Farnsworth finished with 13 to give the Pirates three players in double figures.

Evan Martin had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Whitman in both categories.  Dunham finished with 13 points off of the bench.  The Missionaries finished the game with a 53-42 edge in rebounding.

Both teams will finish the week with a home game against Linfield College.  The Pirates host the Wildcats on Friday night.  Linfield visits Whitman on Saturday.