KERRVILLE, Texas – The Whitworth University men's basketball team allowed just three points over the final three and half minutes of action to earn a 79-66 victory over Schreiner in a non-conference men's basketball showdown on Wednesday afternoon.
The 14th ranked Pirates outscored Schreiner (7-2) 40-34 in the second half to stretch their lead and reach eight straight wins.
The Mountaineers jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead after hitting their first three shots. Whitworth settled in after Diego Jaques hit back-to-back threes and a tip-in by Jake Holtz spurred a 7-0 Pirate run with just over six minutes of time elapsed. Two possessions later, Colton Looney picked up right where he left off on Monday, nailing his first shot from beyond the arc that gave the Pirates an 18-13 lead. The Mountaineers closed the gap with a layup from Kamden Ross, but Stephen Behil hit a three and Garrett Long made a jumper to give Whitworth a nine-point lead with 8:43 remaining in the half.
Three minutes later, Long hit the sixth Pirate three-pointer to stretch the lead to 32-20, their largest of the half. Schreiner outscored Whitworth by five in the final five minutes, but the Pirates went into the break with a 39-32 lead. The Bucs shot 41.7% from the field with a balanced offensive attack in the first half. Holtz led with nine points, Jaques and Behil each had eight while Long added seven. Ross led with 13 points for the Mountaineers.
Whitworth started the second half with another three-pointer from Looney and a Long driving layup. Schreiner responded with a 9-2 run after a long-distance shot shrunk the Pirate lead to 46-43 at the 14:34 mark. With a two-point Whitworth lead, Looney made back-to-back three-pointers to push the lead to six. Ross made a layup to get the Mountaineers back within four, but Looney hit yet another shot from distance to spark a 7-0 Pirate run that put the score at 67-56 with just under five minutes to play.
Shreiner once again battled back to a six-point deficit, but it was short lived as Whitworth made four consecutive defensive stops and scored 10 unanswered points to put the game out of reach. A Holtz rebound and outlet pass led to a Behil transition dunk that capped off the late game surge.
Looney led the Pirates in scoring for the second straight game with 19 points off the bench. He has shot 12-16 (75%) from beyond the arc over his last two contests. Holtz and Long each scored 15, while Behil added 12 and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Whitworth finished the game 30-71 (41.1%) from the field and 10-28 (35.7%) from distance.
Ross led all scorers with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Dylan Mackey was the only other Mountaineer player in double figures with 11.
The Whitworth men wrap up the non-conference schedule with a matchup against Texas Lutheran at 1:00PM PST on Thursday.
