Cool-Hand Lutes Can’t Keep Pace With Pirates

Watching the Whitworth Pirates men’s basketball team shoot the basketball against Pacific Lutheran University Saturday night was like watching a group of 5-year-olds throw Nerf balls into a toilet bowl.

No one could miss.

Whitworth defeated PLU 112-76 at the Whitworth Fieldhouse for its first win of the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges season. Whitworth’s point total was its highest of the season.

After a 51-41 halftime lead for the Pirates (1-1, 10-5), Whitworth continued to fire away early in the second half and ran away from the Lutes (0-2, 6-9).

Here’s how the Pirates did it:

Whitworth shot 46 for 69 from the floor, good for 67 percent.

But PLU hit just 24 of 58 (.414), including 6 of 22 from 3-point range.

The Pirates scored 21 points off PLU turnovers and gained 35 points off the bench.

Whitworth’s Kevin Wright made 11 of 11 field goals and 2 of 3 free throws to finish with 26 points. In addition, Jeff Palmer came off the bench for the Pirates to score 15 points to go with seven rebounds in 17 minutes of play.

“We just got the snot kicked out of us,” said Lutes’ coach Bruce Haroldson.

Haroldson has lost four straight since earning his 299th career win, including a 79-72 overtime loss Friday night at Whitman.

Whitworth hit 9 of 14 3-point shots, which made catching up that much more difficult for the Lutes.

“Their (Whitworth) execution in their offense allowed them to get open,” Haroldson said. “But just because you’re open doesn’t mean that the shot is automatically going to drop.”

Whitworth coach Warren Friedrichs was impressed with his team’s shooting, but pointed to other factors.

“Palmer and Louis Vargas were big for us coming off the bench,” Friedrichs said.

Vargas’ contributions came at the defensive end. PLU’s Erik Peterson had 15 first-half points. Friedrichs started Vargas in the second half, with the sole purpose of shutting down Peterson. Peterson scored just five points in the second half.

“Nate (Dunham), Kevin (Wright), Greg (Stern) and Roman (Wickers) are a given,” Friedrichs said. “But when you get the bench help, the other team is not expecting that.”

Whitworth 112, PLU 76

PACIFIC LUTHERAN

Mills 0-1 2-4 2, Douglass 0-2 0-0 0, Kelly 0-0 0-0 0, Peirce 4-7 0-0 11, Albright 0-0 2-4 2, Sundquist 2-4 1-2 5, Mackey 0-1 1-2 1, Peterson 5-13 8-10 20, Manners 1-4 2-4 5, Dahlberg 5-7 1-3 11, Carrell 1-1 1-2 3, Fix 0-6 2-2 2, Ashworth 6-12 2-3 14. Totals 24-58 22-36 76 WHITWORTH

Weston 2-4 0-0 5, Stern 6-9 1-3 15, Wickers 5-10 0-0 12, Jones 0-2 0-2 0, Dunham 7-10 3-5 17, Vargas 3-3 0-0 6, Arkills 3-6 1-1 7, Beckman 1-4 0-0 2, Mix 2-2 1-2 5, Devine 1-1 0-2 2, Palmer 5-7 3-6 15. Totals 46-69 11-24 112.

Halftime score - W 51, PLU 41. 3-point goals - PLU 6-22 (Mills 0-1, Douglass 0-2, Peirce 3-6, Sundquist 0-1, Peterson 2-6, Manners 1-3, Fix 0-2, Ashworth 0-1), W 9-14 (Weston 1-2, Stern 2-2, Wickers 2-3, Jones 0-1, Beckman 0-2, Wright 2-2, Palmer 2-2). Rebounds - PLU 31 (Peirce 4), W 53 (Dunham 10). Assists - PLU 12 (Mills, Peterson 3 each), W 27 (Stern 9). Total fouls - PLU 22, W 26. Fouled out - None. Technical fouls - None.