TACOMA, Wash. – Trailing by four points with less than two minutes to play, 17th-ranked Whitworth pulled out a 60-58 win at Puget Sound in a physical Northwest Conference men's basketball contest on Friday night at the UPS Memorial Fieldhouse.
The Pirates improved to 16-2 overall and 7-2 in the NWC while the Loggers dropped to 8-10, 3-6.
Whitworth trailed for much of the first half. Puget Sound took a 17-10 lead on a three-point play by Taj Phillips for its largest lead of the game. Jake Holtz answered with a three-point play for the Pirates and both teams struggled to score for the next five minutes against tough defense. Trailing 19-13, Whitworth went on a 9-0 run to go ahead 22-19 on a Jake Holtz layup. The teams traded leads three times before the Loggers went into the locker rooms with a 30-28 advantage. The Bucs shot 40% in the first half, while UPS made 45%. Holtz led all scorers with 11 points at the break, but the Pirates turned the ball over several times.
After the teams traded leads several times over the first ten minutes of the second half, the Loggers appeared to take some control after grabbing a pair of five-point leads at 48-43 and 50-45. Holtz tied the game back up at 50-50 with a driving layup, but Hugo Rutherford converted a three-point play on the next possession to make it 53-50 in favor of UPS with just over three minutes left. When Phillips drove for a layup one minute later the Loggers led 57-53 and were poised for the upset. Holtz got another basket and after a defensive stop Garrett Long hit two free throws to tie the game 57-57 with 46 seconds to play. Rutherford made one of two free throws at the other end before Long hit a tough jumper in the key to put the Pirates up 59-58 with 20 seconds to go. After the Bucs forced a Phillips miss, Whitworth got the ball and Colton Looney was fouled with six seconds to go. He made one of two free throws. A three-point attempt at the buzzer from over 30 feet by Zane Miller came up well short.
"We just stayed composed and together throughout the game in our huddles," said Long after the game. "No one panicked because we all knew what we needed to do to pull out a win. And it was nice we made some shots at the end."
Holtz, who did not play last Friday vs. Linfield and only eight minutes against Whitman, returned to form with a team-high 21 points for the Pirates. Long and Ty Edwards scored ten apiece. The Pirates finished the game 25-61 (41%) from the floor and only 4 of 17 (23.5%) from three-point range.
Rutherford had 17 points and 11 rebounds for UPS, while Phillips had 15 points and five assists. The Loggers were 21-51 (41.2%) from the field and 6-16 (37.5%) from beyond the arc.
Whitworth will try to complete the Tacoma sweep with a game at Pacific Lutheran on Saturday. The Lutes defeated Whitman on Friday to win their fifth straight NWC game and are only a game behind the Pirates in the standings.
