News Release

SPOKANE, Wash. — Whitworth made sure history did not repeat on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse as the host Pirates defeated Pacific Lutheran 78-61 in a Northwest Conference men's basketball contest, avenging an early season loss to the Lutes.

The win, Whitworth's eighth in a row, improved the Pirates to 17-6 overall and 11-3 in the NWC. PLU fell to 5-18 and 4-10, but came home from the road trip to Eastern Washington 1-1.

PLU, which beat Whitworth 81-72 in Tacoma on January 14th, jumped to a quick 7-2 lead after a three pointer by Josh Dressler. The Lutes continued to lead 15-8 after a trey by Scott Lowery and they were still up 24-19 with 9:45 to play in the half after a basket by Jake Carstensen.

But then the Pirates took over. Whitworth outscored PLU 23-4 over the rest of the half, led by Kevin Hasenfus who had eight of the points. He closed the half with a rebound basket in the final three seconds.

Whitworth kept the momentum going in the early portions of the second half, outscoring PLU 14-2 to start the period and lead 56-30 with 15:11 to play. The Pirates' largest lead was 58-31 after a lay up by George Tucker. The Lutes managed to cut the lead to 60-42 after a three pointer by Josh Vanlandingham, but the Pirates opened back up a 22-point edge and kept the lead above 20 points until the final two minutes of the game.

Whitworth shot 59.3% (16/27) from the field in each half. But the normally solid free throw shooting slipped as the league-leading Bucs made only 8/16 from the line. PLU hit 43% (23/53) of its shots and was 9/28 (32%) from the three point line. Whitworth outrebounded PLU 36-22.

Lance Pecht finished with a game-high 25 points for Whitworth, shooting 11/15 from the field. Hasenfus posted a double-double of 16 points and 11 boards off of the bench. Tucker scored 15 points and dished seven assists.

Vanlandingham and Lowery each scored 11 points to lead the Lutes. Brian Misterek came off of the bench for 10 points. Dressler led PLU with four rebounds.

Whitworth will look to improve its winning streak as the Pirates finish the 2005-06 regular season on the road at Whitman on Tuesday and Pacific on Saturday. PLU returns to action next Friday, hosting George Fox.