SPOKANE, Wash. –Jake Holtz scored 22 points including six in the last 90 seconds, Sullivan Menard added 21, and Whitworth fought off rival Whitman 76-69 on Tuesday to stay perfect in conference play.
The Pirates have beat Whitman three straight times now following their loss in Spokane last year. Whitworth beat Whitman twice in Walla-Walla, one of those wins coming in the Northwest Conference title game.
Whitworth (7-5 overall, 3-0 NWC) is 3-0 to start conference play for the first time since 2019.
The first half featured nine lead changes and an equal number of ties as neither team led by more than five. Whitman (7-5 overall, 1-2 NWC) built a 21-16 lead with 9:06 left following a trio of threes from Jai Deshpande who finished the first half with 18 points.
Sullivan Menard erased Whitman's lead himself with an acrobatic layup through contact, followed by a three-point play. Menard had 11 at the break.
"Sullivan was so huge for us tonight, scoring the way he did on just eight shots, so efficient tonight," said Jablonski. "I thought he was tremendous."
Deshpande hit just one shot in the second half, as Whitworth overtook the Blues.
"We were just able to limit his looks and get him into some foul trouble, he had a huge first half so we had to get that under control. Whitman did a lot to get us out of our rhythm early on," said Jablonski.
Menard set the tone throughout, but down the stretch it was JoJo Anderson and Holtz who put the game out of reach. Anderson missed 10 of his first 11 shots, but his confidence never waivered as he proceeded to score 11 points in the final nine minutes, including a trio of three-point plays.
With 6:30 left, Anderson buried a trey and Diego Jaques followed that with a steal and transition layup to give Whitworth the largest lead by either side at 57-51.
Anderson came up big again with another steal before finishing an and-one himself on the other end, stretching Whitworth's lead to 64-56 with 2:40 remaining. The Blues responded as Deshpande buried his first shot of the second half before finding Ale Efe Isik for a bucket inside to cut the Pirate lead to 66-63 with 1:31.
But Whitworth held on as Holtz threw down a dunk in transition, scoring six of Whitworth's final 10 points to bury Whitman in the rivals' first meeting of the season.
"It's always an emotional battle, both teams want it so bad. It's great to walk away with a victory tonight, but now it's all about refocusing for Friday," said Jablonski.
The Pirates will travel to Lewis & Clark on Friday to close the week, looking to keep a clean slate in conference play.
