SPOKANE, Wash. – No. 21 Whitworth used its most dominant rebounding performance of the season to cruise to a 90-76 win over visiting George Fox on Friday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The Pirates improved to 19-3 overall and 12-1 in the Northwest Conference.  The Bruins fell to 5-17, 3-10.

Whitworth outrebounded George Fox 54-22, including an 18-4 edge in offensive boards.  It was point guard Matt Staudacher who led the way for the Bucs with nine rebounds.

Christian Jurlina scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished seven assists while Adam Wilks came off of the bench for a career-high 17 points for the Pirates.  George Valle finished with 16 for the Bucs.

The game was not as close as the final score might indicate.  Whitworth jumped out to a 15-2 lead in the opening five minutes and led by 20 points in the first half after Staudacher's jumper made it 42-22.

But George Fox closed the half on a 16-7 run to get within 49-38, and a technical foul on the Pirate bench called at the conclusion of the first half allowed the Bruins to open the second half with two free throws before the game even resumed.  GFU pulled within 53-46 on a basket by Johnathan Doutt a couple minutes later.  But Whitworth regrouped and eventually built the lead back out to 25 points (75-50) on Valle's basket with nine minutes left in the game.

Whitworth made 50% (32-64) of its shots from the floor, getting assists on 21 of those baskets.  But the Pirates committed 23 turnovers in the game, one off of their season high.

JJ Lacey scored a career-high 22 points to lead George Fox in scoring.  Andrew Smith added 16, Doutt had 12 and Chris Stanfield totaled 11 points.  The Bruins made 41% of their shots from the floor.

The Pirates will play their final home game of the regular season on Saturday when they host Pacific at 6:00 p.m.