SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University survived a strong upset bid from visiting Belhaven University when a three-pointer by DeMarcus Powe rimmed out in the final seconds of the game allowing the Pirates to escape with a 66-64 win on Friday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The 20th-ranked Pirates improved to 5-0 in their first game in two weeks. The Blazers, who made their longest road trip of the season from Jackson, Mississippi to Spokane, Washington, fell to 5-3. The Bucs built a 15-point lead in the first half, saw Belhaven go up by five in the second half and then withstood the last-ditch shot.
"Our guys did a great job of gutting out this win," said head coach Damion Jablonski. "Sometimes it isn't pretty, but you do whatever it takes to get the win."
Whitworth never trailed in the opening half, jumping to an 11-4 lead on a basket by Garrett Long. After Belhaven pulled within 13-10 on Jordan Marshall's jumper, the Pirates went on a 14-2 run. Long sparked the spurt with a three-pointer and Stephen Behil and Caden Bateman made three-pointers along the way to help open a 27-12 lead. The Blazers were able to battle back to within 36-27 at the break.
The Belhaven momentum continued into the second half. A pressing defense forced eight Whitworth turnovers after halftime and the Pirate offense went stagnant for a long stretch of the second period. After Diego Jaques scored Whitworth's first eight points of the second half to give the Bucs a 44-37 lead just under four minutes into the period, the Pirates would score only two more points over the next eight minutes of the game. Meanwhile the Blazers outscored Whitworth 14-2 to go ahead 51-46 with 9:18 to play. Jordan Marshall's three-pointer gave the visitors their first lead of the game at 49-46.
Whitworth retied the game 53-53 Jake Holtz's three-point play with 5:43 to go, but the Pirates did not retake the lead until Stephen Behil's three-point play put his team up 56-55 with just over three minutes left. The teams would trade leads four times over the next two minutes. Garrett Long's put-back gave Whitworth a 64-61 advantage with under a minute to play, and after a defensive stop, his free throw made it a two-possession game (65-61). Powe changed that with a difficult pull-up three-pointer over tight defense with 13 seconds left and Long made one of two free throws at the other end. Powe's final shot came off an inbounds play with three seconds to go and he got his shot off from the corner. It bounced off the rim and Behil secured the rebound as time expired.
Behil led five Pirates in double figures with 15 points, while Holtz, Long, Jaques and Ben Nyquist all scored ten. Long just missed Whitworth's first double-double of the season with nine boards and led the team with four assists.
Powe led Belhaven with 15 points, finishing 5-6 from beyond the arc. The rest of his team was 1-12 from three-point range. Jordan Williams came off the bench for a dozen points, while Jacob Reese had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
After two weeks off, Whitworth gets right back to action on Saturday when the Pirates host Hardin-Simmons University from Texas at 6:00 pm.
