FOREST GROVE, Ore.  Whitman's Joey Hewitt saw his streak of 13 consecutive starts come to an end here Friday in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game against Pacific.

So, the smooth sophomore celebrated.

Coming off the bench for the first time since scoring a career-high 25 points in a Dec. 10 win over Covenant, Hewitt erupted for 27 points to help the second-ranked Blues take down the Boxers 90-79 and improve to 20-0.

"Joey is an exceptional offensive player," Whitman head coach Eric Bridgeland said. "He can get greedy, in a great way, in a hurry. It's not forced. It's within what we're doing. He was obviously feeling it."

Tim Howell added 26 points and Austin Butler had 12 points, five assists and two steals for the Blues (11-0 in NWC). Whitman maintained a three-game lead over Whitworth for first place in the conference with five games remaining. The Blues would assure themselves of no lower than a second-place finish in the NWC by beating Linfield in McMinnville Saturday night.

Whitman led wire-to-wire. Its largest first-half lead was 16, its heftiest second-half margin 19. The Boxers, who fell to the Blues 99-69 on Jan. 7 in Walla Walla, kept hitting big shots, and cut their deficit to 10 on three separate occasions inside the final three minutes.

Howell had baskets in response each time.

"Tim's a closer, ya know?" said Bridgeland. "Pacific kept hitting big shots. They hit some big 3s that kept them within striking distance. It was a nice finish for us, offensively."

Hewitt entered the game at the 16:42 mark of the first half, his squad leading 9-5, and proceeded to score Whitman's next eight points -- including seven unanswered. He would later uncork a personal 6-0 run, making a 3-pointer off a kickout from Butler and then converting a three-point play after banking home a jumper through contact, to lift the Blues ahead 31-18. Hewitt's 3-pointer near the two-minute mark made it 43-27, Blues. He assisted Jack Stewart's 3-pointer that made it 46-30 just before recess.

Hewitt had 19 points -- his second-highest output of the season -- in the first half. He made 6 of 8 field goals, including 3 of 5 from deep. Howell had 12 and Stewart 9 at the break. Butler had three of Whitman's 10 assists (on 15 baskets) as the Blues weathered Pacific's hot outside shooting (7 of 12 on 3-pointers) to build a 15-point halftime advantage.

For the game, Hewitt was 9 of 14 from the field and had three of Whitman's eight steals. Stewart added 12 points on 4-of-7 3-point shooting and dished three assists.

The Blues had 14 assists to just nine turnovers while forcing 21 Pacific turnovers and limiting the Boxers – who lead the NWC in offensive rebounding at 13.3 per game -- to five boards on the offensive glass.

Bridgeland noted the contributions of Robert Colton and Trevor Osborne, who contributed quality minutes in a shortened rotation.

"This was a great win against a really good team," he said. "Big exhale. Now we have a big one tomorrow."