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Jon Young led the Bucs with 18 points

SPOKANE, Wash. -- One solid half of defense was enough for Whitworth College as the Pirates held visiting Pacific University to 25.8% shooting from the field in the first period on the way to an 86-73 win over the Boxers in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Five players reached double figures in points for the Pirates, who improved to 11-6 overall and 5-3 in the NWC. Jon Young led the team with 20 points, while Lance Pecht added 17 points, 15 of which came in the second half. Kevin Hasenfus scored 15 points and Bryan Williams had a solid all-around game with 12 points, five assists and a team high seven rebounds.

Kyle Motta made 9 of 11 shots from the field to score a game-high 23 points to lead Pacific (6-10, 1-7 NWC). Ross Bartlett added a game-high nine rebounds to go with his 12 points. Brandon Kawazoe scored 13 of his 18 points in the second period and also dished a game high six assists.

Pacific only made eight of 31 shots in the first half as Whitworth built a lead of 32-10 with 5:11 to play. The Boxers closed to within 39-23 after a pair of free throws by Motta with just over a minute to play. But Tucker made two for Whitworth 30 seconds later to give the Pirates a 41-23 lead as the teams went to the locker rooms.

Even though Pacific improved its shooting to 57.1% (16/28) in the second half, the Boxers could never make headway against the big Whitworth lead. The Pirates led 80-60 with 1:50 to play before Pacific closed the game on a 13-6 run to pull within the final margin.

Whitworth finished the game with a 49% shooting percentage (25/51). The Pirates also went to the free throw line a season-high 40 times and made 31. Pacific finished with a team shooting percentage of 40.7% and was 18/23 from the charity stripe.

Both teams will return to action next Friday. The Boxers, trying now to end a seven game losing streak at Pacific Lutheran. Whitworth, which went into tonight's action tied for third place in the NWC standings with George Fox, will host the Bruins. Both games will begin at 8:00 pm as part of doubleheaders with the women's teams.