ALLIANCE, Ohio – Whitworth battled back against 7th-ranked University of Mount Union all night, but came up short in an 84-74 loss to the Purple Raiders in the season opener for both teams on Friday night at the M Club Classic.
The Pirates will take on Roanoke (Va.) in tomorrow's consolation game at 3:00 pm (ET) / Noon (PT), while UMU hosts Maryville (Tenn.) in the tournament's championship game.
Jake Holtz scored 20 points to lead three Whitworth players in double figures.
The teams traded baskets early and Whitworth took an 8-7 lead on a short jumper by Holtz nearly four minutes into the game. It would be the Pirates' only lead of the night. The Raiders answered with an 8-0 run, capped by Corey Hudson's short jumper, to go up 15-8. Collen Gurley's three-pointer extended the UMU advantage to 28-19 and Gurley made another trey to make it 36-25 with just under six minutes left in the half. Gurley's third three-pointer of the first half increased the lead to 46-31 and it looked like the Purple Raiders might run away from the Pirates. But Michael Smith answered with two baskets, including a three-pointer, and UMU had a 50-38 lead at halftime. Smith scored 15 in the first half for the Pirates, while Gurley had 16 for the Purple Raiders.
Whitworth came out of the locker room with a 10-4 run, capped by a Holtz breakaway layup from a steal by Jerry Twenge, to cut the margin to 54-48. The Pirates were still within 60-53 after Stephen Behil's putback with 12:40 to play. UMU scored the next nine points to open a 69-53 lead on another Gurley three-pointer, their largest lead of the night. The margin was still 16 (75-59) with 6:43 left when the Pirates made one more run, getting within 77-70 on another Holtz breakaway after another Twenge steal with 2:47 left. Darrell Newson's steal and fast-break dunk with 1:14 to go ultimately sealed the win for UMU after the lead went back to 11 points (83-72).
"I'm extremely proud of the way our team battled tonight," said Whitworth head coach Damion Jablonski. "That was a hostile environment against one of the best teams in the country and our team never gave in."
In addition to leading the Pirates in scoring, Holtz led the Bucs in rebounds with eight. Smith finished with 19 points in his Whitworth debut. JT McDermott scored 17, 13 in the second half. McDermott also added six assists to lead the team. The Pirates made 44.6% (29-65) of their shots, but committed 16 turnovers. They had a slight 37-33 edge on the boards.
Gurley led all players with 27 points for Mount Union, making five three-pointers in the game. Christian Parker had 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds. The Purple Raiders made 51.6% (33-64) of their shots.
