SPOKANE, Wash. – Jake Holtz led the Pirates with 21 points and 10 rebounds, Sullivan Menard added 20 and Whitworth dominated Puget Sound 77-53 on Saturday night to secure homecourt advantage.

Whitworth (17-8, 13-3 NWC) won convincingly despite the absence of its leading scorer in JoJo Anderson, and they did so with their back against the wall following a 75-72 setback against Pacific Lutheran on Friday.

The Pirates have now clinched the top seed and home court advantage for the Northwest Conference tournament next weekend, as well as a share of the regular season title. A loss would've given both to Whitman.

Despite shooting just 36.5% from the field, the Pirates hit 21-27 from the stripe, pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, and added 10 threes as they blew past the Loggers (13-12, 9-7 NWC) to claim the season sweep.

Colton Looney provided the Pirates an early spark, knocking down a 3-pointer to start an 8-0 run five minutes into the game. With 10:58 in the half, Looney buried consecutive shots before Menard got going with a pair of treys to help Whitworth to a 27-13 lead.

Holtz and Looney carried the scoring load in the final five minutes as the Pirates stretched their lead to 37-23 at the break. Looney scored 10 in the first half on 4-6 shooting.

Ben Nyquist and Stephen Behil drilled 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cap a 12-4 run that ballooned the lead to 49-29, and the Pirates never relented. Menard knocked down 11 of 13 free throws, Holtz was 7-9 as Whitworth continued to get to the line. Puget Sound made just 3 free throws on 7 attempts.

Whitworth will kick off the post season in the Fieldhouse on February 23 in the conference's four-team single elimination tournament.