SPOKANE, Wash. – For the second game in a row Whitworth found itself in a second half deficit too big to overcome as visiting Pacific Lutheran held on for an 83-77 win over the Pirates in a Northwest Conference game at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The Lutes improved to 10-8 overall and 4-5 in the NWC after an 0-4 start to conference play. The Pirates dropped to 11-7, 6-3 with their second straight conference loss.
Whitworth scored the game's first basket and that would be the Pirates' only lead. PLU scored the next five points and steadily took control of the opening half. Jackson Reisner and Sam Noland hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the Lutes ahead 13-7. Sean McCurdy's trey made it 22-13 and Croix Sweeney's layup gave PLU its first double-digit advantage (24-14). Trailing 28-18, Whitworth scored six straight points to pull within 28-24 on Rowan Anderson's driving layup. The Lutes answered with a 7-0 run, capped by Noland's three-pointer, for a 35-24 halftime lead. PLU made 56% (14-25) of its shots in the opening half, including 50% (5-10) from three-point range. The Pirates made only 33% (10-30) and were 1 of 8 (12.5%) from beyond the arc.
As hot as the Lutes were in the opening half, they were hotter at the beginning of the second, making five of their first six attempts to open a 47-30 lead at the first media timeout. At that point Whitworth coach Damion Jablonski took his starters off the floor and put in four freshmen and a sophomore. That group brought extra energy. Diego Jaques, Lucas Meisner and Stephen Behil all hit three-points in a run that got the Pirates back within 56-45 with 12:25 to go. Jerry Twenge followed with two straight buckets to trim the margin to 58-51.
But the Lutes continued to hit shots of their own and Mack Hepper's basket re-established a double-digit margin with eight minutes to play. After a pair of Jake Holtz free throws brought Whitworth within 63-58, PLU scored four straight points to go back ahead by nine. The Pirates continued to battle and pulled within 69-66 on Sullivan Menard's three-pointer with 4:24 to go. That's as close as Whitworth would get. Noland's tough pull-up in the paint extended the margin back to 73-67 with under three minutes to play and McCurdy's two free throws gave the Lutes a 76-69 lead with under a minute left. Michael Smith's three-pointer pulled the Bucs back within 78-74 and Whitworth had a chance to cut the margin further, but turned the ball over. After a PLU free throw, Menard drilled another three to make it 80-77. The Pirates would not score again and the Lutes hit 3 of 4 at the free throw line in the final 17 seconds.
Menard led Whitworth with 14 points off the bench. JT McDermott added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds while Smith scored 11. Whitworth improved its shooting to 19 of 35 (54.3%) in the second half, including 7 of 14 (50%) from three-point range. The Pirates finished with a 35-29 edge in rebounding.
McCurdy scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for PLU to lead the Lutes to their first win at the Whitworth Fieldhouse since 1998. Noland finished with 17 points and Brandin Reidel scored 14, 10 in the second half. The Lutes made 18 of 30 (60%) in the second half, but turned the ball over 15 times in the game to allow the Pirates to cut the margin. They also were only 10-17 (59%) at the free throw line in the second period.
Whitworth, who fell behind Linfield by 23 last Saturday before cutting the margin to three in the final minute, will look to end its two-game losing skid against Puget Sound on Saturday night. But the Loggers are riding high after a huge comeback win at Whitman on Friday.
