WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitworth exploded for 60 second half points on the way to a 92-74 win at Whitman College in a battle of teams tied for first place atop the Northwest Conference men's basketball standings.
Jojo Anderson exploded for 24 second half points on the way to a game-high 28 to lead the Pirates (13-7 overall, 9-2 NWC) to the come-from-behind victory. Jander Cline led the Blues (14-6, 8-3) with 27 points.
At hotly-contested first half ended with Whitman taking a 36-32 lead into the locker rooms. The opening 20 minutes featured seven ties and three lead changes. The Pirates took a 23-20 lead with just over eight minutes left in the period on Colton Looney's jumper and had two chances to extend the advantage. The Bucs did not score for next three minutes and Whitman used a 7-0 run to take a 27-23 lead on Cline's layup with five minutes left. Sullivan Menard's three-pointer got Whitworth within 31-30, but Grant Hunt answered with a trey for the Blues and Whitman kept the four-point advantage. Ty Edwards had eight points and three assists in the first half for the Bucs, while Cline had 18 points for the Blues.
Aidan Van Buchwaldt converted a three-point play to give Whitman a 50-45 lead with 15 minutes left in the game. Then Whitworth caught fire, hitting nine of 12 three-point attempts, led by Anderson, Menard and Looney. Anderson's layup tied the game and Menard's gave the Bucs their first lead (52-50) since the first half. Anderson's three-pointer increased the lead to 65-55 and he hit again to make it 71-55 with under nine minutes to play. Looney's trey gave Whitworth an 82-60 lead five minutes later. The margin reached 88-60 on Looney's free throw, a 43-10 run for the Pirates.
Whitworth made 20 of 28 (71.4) from the field in the second half to finish the game 57.6% (34-59) overall. The Pirates went 11-19 from behind the three-point line.
Looney scored a career-high 19 off the bench, making 4-5 from three-point range. Menard totaled 18, hitting three three-pointers. Edwards finished with ten after helping the Bucs stay close in the opening half on the way to a season-sweep in the Battle of Whits.
Cline, who missed the first contest between the teams because of injury, stuffed two games' worth of stats into this one for Whitman, adding five rebounds and three assists to his point total. Jai Deshpande added 16 for the Blues. Whitman finished the game 29-63 (46%) in the game, 15-37 (40.5%) in the second half.
Whitworth will look to hold onto sole possession of first place in the NWC standings when the Pirates host Lewis & Clark on Saturday night.
