THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Whitworth University held on to knock off 24th-ranked California Lutheran University 81-76 on the road in a non-conference NCAA Division III men's basketball game on Thursday night in Gilbert Arena.
In a rematch of last season's first round NCAA tournament contest played at the same location, the Pirates (3-0) built a 15-point lead in the opening half before the Kingsmen (1-2) cut the margin to one point with just under ten minutes to play in the game.
Garrett Long scored a career-high 29 points for Whitworth, who improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
"I'm really proud of the team's effort against a really good Cal Luthrean squad," said head coach Damion Jablonski. "Jake faced double and triple teams all night, but we have other guys that can step up. Garrett was a beast and we had great contributions across the board."
The Pirates led 20-19 midway through the first half before using a 16-2 run to open a 36-21 margin on Long's three-point play. CLU was able to trim the deficit to 40-31 at halftime.
Diego Jaques drilled a jumped to put Whitworth up 49-37 three minutes into the second half. The Kingsmen began to chip away and eventually got within 53-52 on a layup by Devon Lewis with 9:43 to play. After a Pirate miss, CLU had two chances to take the lead, but Whitworth's defense held strong and Jake Holtz answered with a three pointer for the Bucs. The Kingsmen would never get over the top. After CLU got back within 59-57, Ty Edwards capped an 8-2 spurt that put the Pirates up 67-59 with 4:10 to play.
Whitworth made 56% of its field goals (33-59) and had a 43-24 edge on the boards. Long added five rebounds and five assists to his stat line. Stephen Behil scored 15 points, Jaques finished with 12 and Edwards had ten. Holtz led the Bucs with 11 rebounds and dished four assists.
Lewis scored a game-high 31 points for CLU and had four rebounds and four assists. Jake Martin scored 11 off the bench.
Whitworth will return to action on Saturday afternoon at Caltech.
