Box Score McMINNVILLE, Ore. – 18th-ranked Whitworth used dominating second-half defense to come away with a 67-50 Northwest Conference men's basketball win at Linfield on Saturday night at Ted Wilson Gym.
The Pirates held the Wildcats to only four baskets and 17% shooting after halftime and outscored Linfield 35-15. Whitworth bounced back from its first loss of the season and improved to 18-3 overall and 11-1 in the NWC.
Kenny Love led four Pirate players in double figures with 19 points. George Valle added 14, Matt Staudacher scored 11 and Forrest Baker totaled ten points off of the bench.
"Our guys really defended in the second half and we were able to mix things up and play at high intensity level with multiple lineups and multiple strategies," said head coach Matt Logie. "It was a great team win against a tough Linfield team that's getting better every week."
The Pirates trailed by as many as seven points (19-12) midway through the first half and were behind 35-32 at the break, only because Derek Isaak drained a three-pointer for the Bucs just before halftime. Linfield (3-18 overall, 1-11 NWC) made 57% (12-21) of its shots in the opening period and got 13 points from Austin Murray before halftime.
Isaak's three-pointer to open the second half tied the game for Whitworth and his second trey of the half gave the Pirates a 38-36 lead. After Linfield tied the game 40-40 on a pair of free throws by Connor Sende, Whitworth used an 11-1 run to open a 51-41 lead with eight minutes to play. The Wildcats hit two straight buckets to get within 51-45, but the Pirates answered with six straight points of their own to go ahead 57-45. Love's three-pointer with 3:42 to play increased the lead to 61-47 and essentially put the game away.
The Pirates made 46% (22-48) of their shots from the field, 5-9 (56%) from three-point range. Whitworth was 18-25 from the free throw line and won despite getting outrebounded 37-24. The Pirates forced 18 Linfield turnovers in addition to holding the Wildcats to such a low shooting percentage.
Murray was the only Linfield player to reach double figures and he finished the game with 17 points.
Whitworth returns to action next weekend, hosting George Fox (Friday, 8:00 pm) and Pacific (Saturday, 6:00 pm).
