SPOKANE. Wash. – Garrett Long and Jake Holtz each scored 23 points to lead the Whitworth Pirates to an 84-65 victory over the Pacific Boxers in a Northwest Conference men's basketball matchup on Friday night.
The Pirates moved to 11-2 in the NWC (20-2 overall) and swept the season series with the Boxers, who fell to 5-8 in conference play and 10-12 overall.
Each squad played with pace to start the game and neither team separated by more than six through the first eight minutes of action. Aided by two technical free-throws and a three-pointer from Colton Looney, the Pirates opened a nine-point lead with 11:43 left in the half. Pacific responded and cut the lead to one with a pair of shots from distance.
Over the next five minutes, Whitworth picked up the defensive intensity and went on a 15-4 run to grab a 12-point advantage with 4:18 to go. Stephen Behil knocked down a pair of free throws two minutes later to give the Pirates their largest lead of the half 42-29. Whitworth led 46-34 at halftime and shot 50% (18-36) from the field. Holtz led the Bucs with 17 points at halftime on 7-9 shooting.
Long led the Whitworth offensive attack to start the second half. His three-point basket sparked a 9-0 run at the 13:40 mark, followed by a Looney trey that gave the Bucs a 64-45 lead. Pacific's Devin Fortune caught fire and scored 10 straight points for the Boxers, who started to chip away. Jake Blazona knocked down a long range shot to cut the Whitworth lead to 69-61 with 5:30 to play.
Whitworth responded and again scored nine unanswered points. Holtz nailed four free throws and Long made a layup with under two minutes to play to put the game out of reach. Pacific was held to just two field goals in the final five minutes of action.
The Pirates made 31 of 60 shots (51.7%) and seven of 19 three-pointers (36.8%). Whitworth controlled the glass and outrebounded the Boxers 47-28, including 13 on the offensive end. Holtz added seven rebounds and three assists to his point total. Behil scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Looney and Caden Bateman each had eight points off the bench.
Wilfrid Nado led Pacific with 16 points and two steals off the bench. Fortune scored 14 points, all in the second half and added 10 rebounds. The Boxers shot 37.5% from the floor (24-64) and made nine of 21 three-point attempts (42.9%).
The Pirates will host George Fox on Saturday night at 4:00 pm. A win will clinch the NWC regular season title and the #1 seed in the conference tournament.
