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SPOKANE, Wash. -- Whitworth jumped to an early lead by making open baskets and the Pirates never allowed visiting Puget Sound to get into the game on the way to a 98-74 win in a Northwest Conference men's basketball contest on Friday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Williams had 21 points and nine assists

The Pirates (16-6 overall, 10-3 NWC) made 64% (35/55) of their shots from the field and 53% (8/15) of their three point attempts, while holding the 11th-ranked Loggers (17-4, 11-2) to 35% (20/57) from the field and 13% (3/23) from three point range.

The Pirates made five of their first six shots to open up a 13-2 lead over the Loggers just over two minutes into the game. Jon Young made a pair of three pointers to key the rally. Whitworth extended the lead to 21-4 on a lay up by Lance Pecht. James Jones made a pair of free throws to give the Pirates their first 20-point lead of the game at 30-10. A steal and breakaway dunk by Jones gave Whitworth its biggest lead of the half at 45-21. The Bucs went to the locker room with a 46-24 lead.

Whitworth opened the large first half lead by holding UPS to 31% (8/26) shooting from the field and allowing the Loggers no three pointers. UPS was 0/13 from three point range in the half. Antwan Williams did his best to try to keep the Loggers in the game, scoring 11 of the team's points in the first period.

UPS was never able to make a run in the second half that could get the team back in the game. Whitworth quickly opened a 27-point advantage (57-30) after a three pointer by Jones with 15:37 to play. The Loggers did manage to pull within 74-57 after a three pointer by Chase Curtiss with 8:54 to play, but Bryan Williams answered with a three pointer for the Pirates and the Loggers could never get the lead below 20 the rest of the way. The Pirates' largest lead was 30 points, on two occasions.

Bryan Williams finished with a game-high 21 points and nine assists to lead the Pirate offense. Pecht added 20 points and Jones scored 19 points off of the bench. George Tucker and Kevin Hasenfus each scored 13 points before fouling out. Calvin Jurich came off the bench to lead the Pirates with seven rebounds.

Antwan Williams totaled 18 points to lead the Loggers. Curtiss scored 14 points and Zach McVey finished with 12 points and seven boards for UPS. Josh Walker had a game-high four steals.

Whitworth's win ended a five game losing streak to the Loggers and also dropped UPS into a tie for first place with Willamette. The Pirates are now only one game behind the Loggers and Bearcats in the standings. The loss was also the biggest for UPS in a Northwest Conference contest since January of 2001 when the Loggers fell 83-59 at Willamette.

UPS and Whitworth return to action on Saturday night. The Loggers play at Whitman, while Whitworth hosts Pacific Lutheran. Both games are at 8:00 pm. PLU defeated Whitman 81-65 tonight.