Whitworth men catch fire late, hold off Whitman for 3-0 start in NWC

In a basketball game with 23 lead changes, the Whitworth Pirates finally found enough offense at the end beat the Whitman Missionaries 65-57 on Tuesday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The Missionaries challenged every pass and dribble and forced 15 Whitworth turnovers. But coach Matt Logie said he was proud of how his team handled the constant pressure.

“That was a fantastic game,” Logie said. “Both teams competed hard. Our team hung in there and was finally able to make some shots.”

But it took a while. The defensive pressure by both teams caused some horrid shooting numbers.

Whitworth (10-2, 3-0 Northwest Conference) went only 2 of 20 from the 3-point arc. But the Missionaries (8-4, 2-1) were actually worse at 2 of 21 for 9.5 percent.

The Pirates were led by Christian Jurlina’s 18 points, of which 14 came in the first half. He also led the team with 12 rebounds.

Whitworth’s Forrest Baker hit a huge 3-pointer at the end of the first half which ended at a 30-30 tie. And Baker gave the Pirates the lead for good when he hit a layup with 5:05 left in the game to make the score 54-52.

“It’s one of the best feelings in the world to win a tight rivalry game like that,” Jurlina said.

“I love it.”

Sophomore guard Kenny Love scored all of his 16 points in the second half. Senior center Taylor Farnsworth had 13 for the Pirates who ended up shooting 37.3 percent from the floor.

Logie said he was puzzled by the shooting numbers from long range.

“It’s one of those things,” he said. “We were getting good looks. But our guys hung in there when the shots weren’t falling.

“We won three games in five days,” Logie said. “It’s a great way to open conference play.”