SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's basketball squad opened the 2025-26 season in dominant fashion with a 92-47 win over Walla Walla University in a non-conference game on Saturday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse.
Six different Pirates scored in double figures to lead the way as they outscored the Wolves (0-2) 52-24 in the second half.
Walla Walla hung with the Pirates for the first ten minutes of the game. Dylan Soren knocked down a jumper at the 12:14 mark to take a 14-13 lead, but it would be the Wolves' last lead of the game as Whitworth followed with a 17-4 run. Caden Bateman capped off the run with a two-handed fastbreak dunk. The Bucs scored 10 unanswered in the final four minutes of the half to take a 40-23 lead into the break. Colton Looney led the Pirates with nine points and Brian Caldera made his presence felt with eight points and four rebounds off the bench. Whitworth held Walla Walla to 26.5% (9-34 FG) shooting from the floor in the first frame.
Whitworth started the second half on a 24-9 run and doubled up Walla Walla at 64-32 with 13 minutes to play. After a Wolves' layup, the Bucs scored 13 more unanswered points, including five from Dylan Westermeyer, to take a 77-34 lead at the seven-minute mark. Down the stretch, Jamison Atwood and Nate Krohn made an impact off the bench with Atwood dropping eight of his ten points and Krohn scoring nine in the final nine minutes. Krohn's jumper with just over two minutes to go gave the Pirates their largest lead of the game 92-40.
Looney led the Pirates with 14 points (4-8 3PT) and eight rebounds. Westermeyer finished with 13 points and Ben Nyquist added 11. Bateman, Stephen Behil, and Atwood each finished with 10. Ty Edwards led the team in assists with five. Whitworth shot 45.5% (35-77) from the floor and 31.3% from three-point range (10-32).
Snellman led the Wolves with 12 points and seven assists. Jordan Jackson scored 11 points. Walla Walla was 18-64 (28.1%) from the floor and made three of 18 (16.7%) three-point attempts.
The Whitworth men will host Bethany College in the Spokane Public Schools game on Thursday at 11:00am.
