WALLA WALLA, Wash.  At times, Whitman played as though it had something to prove.

At other times, the top-ranked Blues played as though they had everything to prove.

Neither mode proved pleasant for Waynesburg (Pa.) College.

Whitman celebrated its return to the court with a 113-74 victory over the Yellow Jackets in a nonconference men's basketball game at Sherwood Athletic Center Friday evening, forcing 41 turnovers and seamlessly integrating rookies and reserves in a wire-to-wire rout.

The victory, which saw the Blues (1-0) eclipse their single-game high-scoring mark from the 2016-17 season, served to both turn the page on last year's magical run to the national semifinals and ignite a new crusade.

"We're not going to be complacent," said junior Austin Butler, who had team highs in assists (four) and blocked shots (two). "We're going to feed off that game. We'll have that game in the back of our heads for the entire season."

'That game' would be last season's finale, a loss in the national semifinals. It would appear that the hunger inspired by Whitman's only defeat of '16-'17, a palpable motivator for that journey's veteran core, has contaminated the entire roster.

"A lot of credit goes to the new guys," said senior all-American Tim Howell. "This was an amazing game. Everyone played phenomenal."

Howell and junior Jack Stewart led the Blues with 16 points apiece, two of the seven players who scored in double figures on a night when a first-year player, mercurial point guard Darné Duckett, led Whitman in minutes (25). Junior Joey Hewitt added 14 points and three assists, sophomore Trevor Osborne had 12 points and made 4 of 8 3-pointers, and Duckett, junior Cedric Jacobs-Jones and sophomore Jaron Kirkley added 11 points apiece.

No starter played more than 18 minutes. Ten different Blues played at least 10.

"I'm confident in everyone on this team," said Howell, who had three of Whitman's 21 steals, sharing team-high honors in theft with Butler, Kirkley and junior Ben Beatie. "I'm proud of everyone. We handled business."

Whitman will likely be without two '16-'17 starters for the entire season, and Friday's season opener was an early glimpse at the rotation alterations that the absences of Jase Harrison and JoJo Wiggins will entail.

So far, so good.

"The new guys have picked up the system," Jacobs-Jones said. "We're playing together."

"We lost two starters. That means a lot of people have to pick it up," added Butler. "We have the most competitive practices, and that allows us to control and dictate tempo."

Whitman's infamous and infernal full-court pressure was an instant factor, coaxing a sequence of seven consecutive Yellow Jacket turnovers as the clock slipped under 17 minutes in the first half. That was an appetizer (or an emetic, depending on one's partisan persuasions) for the mayhem to come. The Blues terrorized Waynesburg for another seven straight turnovers (from the 10:55 mark to the 8:00 mark) and then another five straight (6:14-3:50).

Bridgeland played 11 players for at least five minutes apiece in the opening half, with the bench crew's later appearances looking more assured than its first.

"We have been focused on our transition defense, on jamming the ball, on getting in passing lanes, on picking guys up right away," said Bridgeland. "The energy-level was high no matter who was in tonight.

"At times, we were disjointed. But then you look up at the scoreboard. We played really good defense in the first half."

The Blues led 55-25 at halftime, when Waynesburg, of the President's Athletic Conference, had more turnovers (26) than points.

In addition to forcing 41 turnovers, Whitman also generated second and third chances on the glass, where it cleaned up 17 offensive rebounds. The Blues shot 51.4 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, with Stewart (5 of 6), Hewitt (2 of 4), Beatie (2 of 3) and Duckett (3 of 7) showing lethal range.

"We play a fun brand of basketball," said Butler. "We have great spirit and culture."

Duckett added two assists and two rebounds to the mix.

"He's definitely an Oakland guard," Butler said. "He's gritty. He has confidence. We're gonna need it."

The other first-year player to see time on Friday made a relatively brief -- but memorable -- contribution. Bryce Mulder, a 7-foot-0 post from Woodland, Wash., buried a 3-pointer from the corner with 4:30 left in the game to put Whitman over 100 points.

It was Mulder's first field goal attempt as a college player.

"You had Trev knocking down 3s, (Andrew Harvey) bringing intensity, Ben Beatie stepping up, Rob (Colton) at the 4… You can just go down the list," Howell said.

Colton, Hewitt and Kirkley had three assists apiece. Jacobs-Jones had team highs in rebounds (six) and offensive rebounds (four).

Whitman hosts Gallaudet University of Washington, D.C., at 7 p.m. Saturday. Gallaudet fell 92-56 at Whitworth on Friday.