SPOKANE, Wash. – Visiting Whitman made a huge statement in the season's second Battle of Whits, rolling to an 85-67 win at Whitworth in a game that could go a long way toward clinching the Northwest Conference regular season men's basketball crown for the Blues.

Whitman bounced back from a 72-58 loss to the Pirates back in January and improved to 18-4 overall and 11-2 in the NWC with only three games left in the regular season.  Whitworth (14-8, 9-4) fell two games behind the Blues in the standings.

Whitman had all of the wits and the want-to in the opening half.  The Blues made 70% (19 of 27) of their shots in the period, including 5 of 9 from three-point range.  That success came despite the fact that Xzavier Lino, the reigning NWC men's basketball Student-Athlete of the Week, scored only three points in the first 20 minutes.  As Whitman was making shots, they were keeping Whitworth from scoring.  The Pirates missed their first six shots from the floor and had three turnovers as the Blues jumped to a 10-0 lead.  By the time Jai Deshpande made a three-pointer to extend Whitman's lead to 34-15, Whitworth was 0-9 from beyond the arc and only 4 of 22 from the floor (18%).  Deshpande hit from three again to extend the margin to 41-19, forcing a Pirate timeout.  Whitman finished the half ahead 48-24.  Murphy Caffo had ten points at the break for the Blues after making 5 of his 6 shots.  Whitworth finished the first half 8 of 29 (27%), including 0 of 11 from beyond the arc. 

Whitman never let Whitworth build momentum in the second half, opening a 27-point lead (53-26) two minutes after halftime.  The Pirates finally cut the margin to 20 points (69-49) on Jerry Twenge's three-pointer with eight minutes left.  Whitworth got within 78-65 on Stephen Behil's trey, but only 1:50 remained in the game. 

Jake Holtz led the Pirates with 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds.  Behil was the only other Whitworth player in double figures with ten points.  The Bucs improved their shooting in the second half, but still finished the game only 26-63 (36.5%) from the floor and 4-22 (18%) from three-point range.  Whitworth finished with a slight 38-35 edge in rebounds.

Walter Lum led Whitman with 20 points and dished five assists.  Caffo made 9 of 12 shots from the field and finished with 18 points and eight boards.  The Blues ended the game 29 of 52 (56%) from the field and 8-16 (50%) from beyond the arc.  

Whitworth will try to bounce back from this setback with a game at George Fox on Friday night.