TACOMA, Wash. -
Grant Hunt scored a game-high 21 points,
Ali Efe Isik added 15 points and six rebounds but it came in another defeat as the Whitman College men's basketball team fell to 80-73 to the University of Puget Sound in Northwest Conference action on Saturday night.
Jacob Fotu added nine points off the bench to go along with a team-best seven boards for the Blues (8-11, 6-4 NWC) who turned the ball over only 10 times. They unfortunately ran into a hot-shooting Loggers team who shot 50% from the floor and 44% in three pointers.
Hugo Rutherfood led four Loggers in double figures, scoring 19 points and grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Liam Ruttledge added 16 points off the bench.
The Blues did look sharp in the first half despite the loss. They never trailed and led by as many as nine points before closing with a 45-point half. Efe Isik's three-pointer kick-started an early 11-2 run that put Whitman up 14-5 with 14:58 to play in the first half. UPS returned the favor but the Blues lifted the lead back up to nine after Bernard Dzesi got his jumper to go with 10:02 remaining.
The Loggers then went on a run of nine unanswered points capped by a Ruttledge three pointer to tie the game. Alex Pape answered with a three pointer of his own and Efe Isik drilled another, then down the stretch Hunt nailed back-to-back triples to put Whitman up by four points at the break.
The game proved to be a tale of two halves as UPS took an early second half lead, one it would never relinquish. The Loggers led by as many as nine points but the Blues showed signs of a late rally. Pape scored at the hoop and Fotu found Efe Isik who drained a three-pointer on the next possession to whittle the lead to four points with 6:29 to play.
UPS again pushed the lead to nine but Whitman had another late run in them. Hunt and Fotu both hit three pointers to cut the lead to four points with 1:33 to play, but that was as close as the Blues would get.
Whitman is back on the road again next weekend with games at Willamette and Lewis & Clark.
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