SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates used a big first half and scrappy defense to earn an 88-65 win over visiting Willamette University in a Northwest Conference men's basketball matchup on Friday night.
The Pirates (11-1, 2-1 NWC) outscored the Bearcats (4-7, 0-3 NWC) 52-23 in the first half to stretch a lead that would not be surrendered.
"Our guys were determined to get off to a hot start and our defensive intensity was great right from the tip," said head coach Damion Jablonski.
Whitworth came out of the gates hot and made six of their first seven shots. The efficient shooting led to a 15-2 Pirate run, aided by five Willamette turnovers in the first five minutes of the game. The Bearcats regrouped and closed the gap to 42-21, capped off with a three-point play from D'Ante Dean with 3:48 remaining in the half. Willamette would score just one more basket before halftime.
The Pirates kept their foot on the gas and went into halftime with a 52-23 lead, their largest of the half. Garrett Long scored 17 points and Jake Holtz had 15 to lead all scorers at the break. Whitworth shot 62.5% from the field (20-32) in the first 20 minutes while Willamette shot 28.6% (8-28), including 11.1% (1-9) of three-point attempts.
"The first 20 minutes showed our potential," Jablonski said. "Hopefully we can extend that out."
Both teams traded baskets to start the second half, but Willamette could not gain much ground. Stephen Behil forced a turnover that led to a Long fastbreak layup to give the Pirates their largest lead of the game 64-30 with 16:45 to play. The Bearcats would outscore the Pirates 35-24 the rest of the way.
Whitworth shot 55.2% (32-58) from the field and made eight of 19 (42.1%) of three-point attempts. The Bearcats shot 37.7% (23-61) from the field and turned the ball over 18 times. The Pirates scored 22 points off those turnovers and had a 42-32 advantage in paint points.
Holtz and Long each put up 27 points to lead Whitworth. Holtz added six rebounds and two blocks while Long had five rebounds and two steals. Diego Jaques scored 12 points and had one steal.
Kai Brown led Willamette with 14 points off the bench on four of seven field goal attempts. Dean added eight points and five rebounds.
The Pirate men hit the court again on Saturday against visiting Lewis & Clark at 6:00pm.
