SALEM, Ore. - Whitman College finished up its six-game road trip Saturday night with a win over Willamette University in Northwest Conference men's basketball action. No. 21 Whitman relied heavily on its defense throughout most of the night and really stifled the Bearcat offense in the 80-67 victory. The Whit defense collected 17 steals on the night and forced Willamette into 29 turnovers.

Outside of an early 8-8 tie Whitman (13-2, 5-1 NWC) led from start-to-finish. The first half saw a much closer game than the second half did with the Whits never leading Willamette (4-11, 1-5 NWC) by more than seven points. Whitman, however, pushed its lead to 16 at one point in the second half and was able to slow the pace in the final five minutes to prevent a Bearcat comeback.

After narrowly missing a double-double last night, Austin Butler again fell one rebound shy of the feat, scoring 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting and grabbing nine boards; he also collected two assists and two steals in the process. Guards, Tim Howell and Tochi Oti combined for 24 points, while Evan Martin added 10 and 5 rebounds.

"Austin plays like a seasoned senior. He doesn't have to score a point to dominate a game." Head coach Eric Bridgeland said of his first year player. "Clearly he is one of our best."

The Whits were off and running from the get go tonight, but Willamette kept pace. Every time it seemed the Whitties may pull away, the Bearcats would rein them back in. With 11:31 to play, Martin drained a jumper that gave Whitman its largest lead of the game at seven.

At the four minute mark of the first half, Willamette hit a three-point shot that cut the Whit lead to just two. Oti answered with a three and pushed the lead back out to five before two Bearcat free throws. In the final seconds of the half, Montez White converted 1-of-2 free throws to give Whitman the 36-34 lead entering the half.

The Whitties entered the break shooting just 37.5 percent from the field, while Willamette was converting at 52 percent. The difference came in the turnover margin where Whitman forced 14 turnovers and committed just five. Oti led all Whit-scorers with eight points at the half and Whitman's 11 offensive rebounds led to eight second chance points.

Bridgeland praised the team's work ethic and said their defensive efforts really paid off tonight. "Our guys have worked really hard on our half-court defense over the last couple weeks. Tonight we were able to force 29 turnovers using that defense."

The second half began somewhat similar to the first half, with Whitman leading, but the Bearcats staying within striking distance. Eventually, the Whits got it going offensively. With just over eight minutes to play Butler scored on a lay-in that gave Whitman its first double-digit lead of the game. The Whits used a 20-8 run to put the game out of reach for the Bearcats and collect their 13th win of the season.

Whitman returns home next weekend for its first game at the Sherwood Center in 32 days. The Whits will play host to the University of Puget Sound (9-6, 4-2 NWC) and Pacific Lutheran University (10-5, 3-3 NWC) on Friday and Saturday respectively.