NEWBURG, Ore. – For the second straight game, JoJo Anderson and Ty Edwards led the Pirates on a second half surge to stay unbeaten in conference play. Whitworth took sole control of the NWC as they knocked off George Fox 80-73 on Friday in Newburg.
Whitworth outscored Fox 46-29 in the second half, sparked by a 26-7 run in the first 8:11 of the half. Five players scored in that stretch as the Pirates turned a 44-34 halftime deficit into a 60-51 lead.
Anderson and Edwards scored 22 and 19 points to lead four Pirates' who scored in double figures. Whitworth (9-5 overall, 5-0 NWC) shot 52.7% from the field (60% in the second half), and made 17 of 21 from the stripe to steal the road win.
George Fox (11-3 overall, 4-1 NWC) shot just 3 of 28 from behind the arc (10.7%), they'd come into the game averaging 32% from deep. James Moore and Momo Stokes led the Bruins with 18 apiece in the loss.
The Bruins went on an 8-2 run to close the first half, a half in which they never trailed. Whitworth was held in check, shooting 40% from the field and facing their biggest road deficit of the season.
They ensured it didn't stay that way.
Anderson, Edwards, and Holtz jolted the comeback for Whitworth scoring the first 15 points of the half together as the Pirates drew even at 49-49. Jerry Twenge knocked down a pair of jumpers before Carson Talbert and Ben Nyquist capped the run with a pair of layups to give Whitworth a 60-51 lead with 11:49 to go.
Samuel Stewart gave the Bruins a spark scoring the next 11 points to will the Bruins back into the game. With 7:28 left, George Fox blew a golden opportunity to reclaim the lead as they missed two open threes in transition.
Sullivan Menard made them pay as he buried a triple on the other end followed by a steal and a pair of free throws to spark a 7-0 run that put Whitworth up 69-61 with 5:55 to go. Menard finished with 14 points and four assists.
With 1:24, the Bruins threatened again with a run to cut Whitworth's lead to a basket, but Anderson put the game away slashing through a pair of defenders to set up a reverse lay that gave Whitworth a 77-73 cushion.
The Pirates have won four straight since their four-game skid in December, and they currently sit alone atop the NWC. They play Linfield on Saturday at 6:00, looking to avoid their first conference blemish.
