The Blues would score the first 10 points of the game, and managed to hold on a furious rally by Whitworth in the second half as the Blues took another step towards securing the #1 overall seed in the Northwest Conference Tournament, defeating Whitworth 85-67.
Whitman (18-4 overall, 11-2 NWC) would open the game with a pair of three pointers by
Xzavier Lino and
Walter Lum, staking the Blues to an early 6-0 lead. After a lull on offense,
Jander Cline checked in with 16:30 left in the first half and immediately contributed a layup, and
Grant Hunt added a floating runner to give the Blues a 10-0 lead. Whitworth finally got on the board when Menard Sullivan hit a jump shot 4 minutes, 54 seconds into regulation, but the Pirates struggles in the first half continued. The Pirates (14-8, 9-4 NWC) would shoot 8-29 in the first half, including 0-11 from 3 as they turned in only 24 points in the first half.
Whitworth cut the deficit to seven when the Blues would go on another 7-0 run. Lum had a layup driving the baseline,
Grant Hunt added a free throw,
Alex Pape and
Murphy Caffo chipped in a pair of layups of their own, and the Blues led 19-5 halfway through the first half. The rest of the half was back and forth highlighted by a pair of three pointers by
Jai Deshpande, the latter which gave the Blues a 41-19 lead, forcing Whitworth to call a timeout with 3:30 remaining in the first half. The Blues and Pirates would trade baskets the rest of the way, with
Murphy Caffo scoring the final bucket in the half on the receiving end of a pass from Lum, giving Whitman a 48-24 lead over their rival heading into the break.
In the second half, neither team seemed able to truly gain the edge. Whitworth would score the first basket of the half on a layup by JT McDermott, his only bucket of the game, but
Grant Hunt immediately answered with a three to extend the lead out to 25. McDermott and Michael Smith, Whitworth's top two scorers, combined for only six points on 2-15 shooting from the field, struggled to get anything going against the Blues stifling defense.
Whitworth hit their first three-pointer of the game with 12:15 remaining in regulation, as Lucas Meissner knocked down the trey to make the score 62-39. But on the next possession, Desphande knocked down a three of his own after a kick-out pass from
Jander Cline.
It got a little testy for the Blues down the stretch, as the Pirates cut the lead down to 16 after Jake Holtz had a steal and scored on the other end to make it 74-58, forcing the Blues to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, a pair of free throws made it a 14 point game with 3:25 to play, when Lum's shooting at the line would seal the deal for the Blues. Walter, who had a game high 20 points, would hit 9 of 10 free throws down the stretch to thwart any comeback by Whitworth.
Lum added five rebounds, five assists, and two steals to go with his 20 points, Caffo finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds, and
Grant Hunt added 10 points as the Blues ended up with eight players contributing offensively for Whitman in the game. Whitman now holds a two game lead over Whitworth with three games to play, holding the inside track for the #1 seed in the Northwest Conference tournament.
