CLAREMONT, Calif.  Whitman wasted little time in breaking away from host University of La Verne on Monday afternoon, racing out to a 12-point lead in less than eight minutes, eventually finishing with a 96-67 non-conference men's basketball victory against the overmatched Leopards.

The win keeps the No. 1-ranked Blues (8-0) unbeaten while La Verne (0-8) continues to search for its first win of the season.

Played at the Rains Center on the campus of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, due to construction near La Verne's home arena, Whitman scored the first six points of the game while forcing three Leopard turnovers during those early minutes.

That script would hold its course over the remainder of the afternoon as the Blues forced 29 turnovers and pocketed 28 points in return.

Whitman had forced 21 turnovers by the halftime break, heading into the intermission with a 55-32 advantage.

Joey Hewitt scored 14 during the opening 20 minutes, with Jaron Kirkley chipping in 10 to go along with Trevor Osborne's 8 points.

The halftime hiatus didn't affect the Blues' momentum as they extended their lead to 31 (76-45) in less than seven minutes of second-half action, crossing that mark on a Ben Beatie dunk, then cranked past the plus-40 mark (86-46) five minutes later on a Kirkley 3-pointer.

La Verne whittled into the ballooning cushion over the final eight minutes, but the outcome had long been decided -- perhaps as early as during that 6-0 game-opening spurt.

All 13 players dressed for Whitman saw court time with nearly all getting at least 10 minutes of action. Eleven of the 13 scored at least one basket, including first-year Riley Chappell who saw his first action of the season. He dropped in a floating jumper from the left block at the 6:51 mark of the second half to notch his first collegiate points.

Hewitt finished his afternoon early in the rout, but left the game for good with what would be a team-high 19 points. Kirkley ended his afternoon with 16, while Robert Colton and Darné Duckett scored 11 each.

The Leopards' Connor Head posted a game-best 22 points but his supporting cast was limited, with three players scoring eight points and six others adding five or fewer to Head's leading role.

The Blues extend their stay in Southern California a few more days and will take on host University of Redlands on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs are only 2-4 on the year but defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges -- the team Whitman beat in the second round of the 2017 NCAA tournament -- by five points in their most recent outing of the season.