LEWISTON, Idaho – The Whitman College men's basketball team took to the court Sunday afternoon for an exhibition match-up against Lewis-Clark State College, pitting the NCAA Division III Missionaries against a seasoned NAIA squad already with five games under its belt. The host Warriors fought off an early challenge from Whitman before stretching their advantage into an 89-70 win.

A Matt Mounier three-pointer lifted Whitman to a 9-8 lead during first-half action but Lewis-Clark answered the next time down the floor and never trailed over the remainder of the contest.

A 23-point halftime deficit was trimmed to just 11 on a Mounier trey with a little more than 16 minutes to play in the second half, and after the Warriors increased their advantage back to 15 Whitman drew within 10 on a Mounier bucket at the 8:07 mark. A 2-minute, 11-second scoring drought allowed Lewis-Clark to hold off the pesky Missionaries over the final stretch.

Evan Martin came off the bench to lead all Whitman scorers with 18 points and a team-high six rebounds. Mounier, with 11, and Jackson Clough and Christian McDonald, both with 10 points, also reached double-digits for the Missionaries. On the glass Whitman came away with an 18-10 edge in offensive rebounds and generated 11 points on second-chance opportunities.

Jacob Wiley led the Warriors with 27 points with Erick Diouf chipping in another 21 more in the win.

Whitman opens its regular season Sunday, Nov. 16 at home on George Ball Court against visiting D'Youville N.Y.) College at 1 p.m.