SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University never trailed, but the Pirates had to work hard to hold off visiting Linfield College 77-68 in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Symes totaled 30 points and 12 boards

Whitworth (15-3 overall, 8-1 NWC) won its ninth straight game, but the Wildcats (10-8, 5-4) proved that their NWC-opening win over the Pirates on January 4th was no fluke. Whitworth remains tied with Puget Sound for first place in the conference standings, while Linfield drops into a four-way tie for third place with Lewis & Clark, Pacific Lutheran and Willamette.

The Pirates jumped to a quick 11-2 lead and opened up a 19 point advantage (36-17) in the first half on a basket by Ryan Symes (Sr., F, Palo Alto, Calif.). The Bucs went on to lead 43-25 at the break after holding Linfield to 24% shooting (6-25) in the first half.

Whitworth still led by 18 points (51-33) after a basket inside by Colin Willemsen (Sr., F, Moraga, Calif.) with 13 minutes to play. But Linfield began slowly chipping away at that lead over the next seven minutes.

Then Brian Murphy and Austin Hunt nailed back to back three-pointers for the Wildcats, pulling the visitors within 65-60 with 3:23 to play. Linfield had been 0-13 from three-point range to that point.

But Symes answered with a lay up inside, then went 6 of 6 from the free throw line inside the final 1:10 to help Whitworth keep Linfield at bay. The Wildcats made 6 of their final 10 three-point attempts during the final four minutes of the game, including Steve Taylor's trey with nine seconds left to pull the Wildcats within the final margin.

Symes finished with 30 points and 12 rebounds to lead all players in both categories. Willemsen added 14 points, ten coming in the second half. David Riley (Fr., G, Palo Alto, Calif.) had 12 points and Tim Sellereit (Jr., G, Bellingham, Wash.) added ten points off of the bench.

K.C. Wiser led Linfield with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Taylor finished with 13 points. Drew Schroeder added 11 points off of the bench.

Whitworth will conclude its four-game homestand on Saturday night by hosting Willamette. Linfield continues its Eastern Washington swing with contest at Whitman.