SALEM, Ore. -- The Whitworth bench sparked a 13-0 first half run that turned momentum in the 10th-ranked Pirates' favor on the way to a 79-66 win at Willamette in Northwest Conference men's basketball play on Friday night in Cone Fieldhouse.

Hasenfus fought inside for 21 points and 9 boards

Whitworth substitutes scored nine of the 13 points that turned an early 15-4 deficit into a 17-15 lead. Otherwise the Bearcats might have taken the momentum of their hot start all the way to an upset victory. Jerry Beverly hit a three pointer and Will Hardy scored back to back baskets during the run.

The Pirates (16-1 overall, 7-1 NWC) continue to lead Puget Sound by a half game in the NWC standings. Willamette fell to 6-10, 2-5.

The Bearcats continued to hang around in the first half until Bryan Williams drained a three pointer at the buzzer to give the Pirates a 37-34 lead at halftime.

After Dan Nugent scored for Willamette to pull the Bearcats within 48-42 with 14:30 to play, Whitworth went on a big run to break open the game. Jon Young nailed three three-pointers and Ryan Symes scored inside three times to spark an 18-2 spurt that gave Whitworth its largest lead (66-44) with 8:29 to play.

The Bearcats managed to get back within 75-65 with a minute and a half left, but Kevin Hasenfus scored inside and then made a pair of free throws on the next two Pirate possessions to move the lead back to 14. Tyler Fergason made one free throw in the final 30 seconds for the final margin.

Whitworth's win over the Bearcats is the Pirates' seventh in a row in the series. Whitworth has won the last four meetings in Salem.

Kevin Hasenfus had another big night for the Bucs, scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Symes finished with 12 points. Young added 11 points, all in the second half. Steve Stockton was another Whitworth spark off of the bench, scoring a career high 10 points. Calvin Jurich had eight points as a substitute. Bryan Williams dished 10 assists.

Nugent scored 13 of Willamette's first 15 points to spark the early 11 point lead for the Bearcats, and finished with 17. Rob Andrus added 12 points off of the bench.

Whitworth will return to Oregon next weekend to play Pacific on Friday night and Lewis & Clark on Saturday in another pair of important NWC contests. The Pirates earned hard fought victories over both squads in Spokane the first weekend in December.

Willamette hosts Whitman tomorrow night at 6:00 pm.