SPOKANE, Wash. – Garrett Paxton scored all 19 of his points in the second half to spark Whitworth to a 97-69 win over visiting Pacific Lutheran in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Saturday night.
Five players reached double figures for the 20th-ranked Pirates (11-2 overall, 4-1 NWC). The Lutes (9-5, 4-1) suffered their first conference loss of the season.
Seth Hall sparked PLU to a fast start, hitting his first five shots from the floor and scoring 12 of his team's first 21 points as the Lutes sprinted out to a 21-11 lead eight minutes into the game. The Pirates answered with three straight three-pointers, two by Jojo Anderson, to pull within 21-20. PLU did not stagger, and retook a 32-24 lead on Bradin Riedel's layup with 7:34 left. But that's when Whitworth took control, outscoring the Lutes 20-6 over the rest of the half. The Pirates didn't take the lead until Miguel Lopez drained a three-pointer for a 40-38 advantage. Lopez scored again on a fast break after a Whitworth steal and Anderson hit two free throws with 20 seconds left for a 44-38 Pirate lead at the break.
The Bucs led by six despite the fact that PLU shot 17-28 (61%) in the first half and the Pirates made only 45%. However, Whitworth made eight threes, had an 18-12 edge on the boards and made 8-9 from the free throw line. Liam Fitzgerald had 12 points on four three-pointers.
The Pirates blew the game open in the opening minutes of the second half, using a 10-0 run to break out to a 54-38 lead, with Paxton scoring six of those points. After the Lutes got back within 56-45 on a Hall jumper, Whitworth got consecutive threes from Fitzgerald to retake control. Paxton's three gave the Pirates their first 20-point lead (70-49) with 12:24 to play. By the time JT McDermott drained his three with seven minutes to go, Whitworth had extended the lead to 82-55. The margin eventually reached 33 points (92-59) with just under two minutes to play.
Whitworth shot 61.8% in the second half and finished the game 35-65 (53.8%) from the floor. The Pirates made also made 53.8% (14 of 26) from beyond the arc and were 13 of 15 (86.7%) from the free throw line. Whitworth ended the game with a 36-28 rebounding advantage against the Lutes.
Paxton finished with 19 points on 9 of 15 shooting after going 0-4 in the first period. Fitzgerald had 18 points, making 6-9 from three-point range. Jojo Anderson added 17 points, while Rowan Anderson and Jerry Twenge had ten apiece. Lopez led Whitworth with nine rebounds, while Fitzgerald dished seven of Whitworth's 25 assists.
Hall led PLU with 19 points, but only had seven after the first eight minutes of the game. Riedel finished with 13 and Sean McCurdy totaled 12. Tyler Ashmore had 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds off the bench. The Lutes finished the game 27-56 (48.2%) from the floor after dropping to 10-28 (35.7%) in the second half.
Whitworth will entertain preseason NWC favorite Linfield (9-3, 4-0) on Tuesday night in the makeup of a game that was postponed from Jan. 8th due to COVID protocols.
