SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth University came back from a five-point halftime deficit to beat 25th-ranked Occidental College 83-75 in the second round of the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Ryan Symes scored a game-high 24 points (Kirk Hirota Photo)

The Pirates (21-6) advance to play Wheaton College (Ill.) in the sectional semifinals at a location still to be determined. The Tigers end their season 22-6.

The match up of conference players of the year played out as expected. Connor Whitman, the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference MVP, finished with 23 points to lead Occidental. Northwest Conference Player of the Year Ryan Symes led Whitworth with 24 points.

The Pirates jumped to a quick 7-0 lead after a jumper by Symes and led 14-7 after a lay in by Calvin Jurich. But the Tigers pulled back within 21-19 on a Whitman three-pointer. A Symes three-pointer put the Pirates back up 27-20, but Joe Sasich scored inside to pull Occidental within 31-30 with 3:06 to play. The Tigers went on to finish the half on an 8-2 run to go to the locker room with a 38-33 lead.

Huston Conti's three-pointer early in the second half gave Occidental its largest lead of the game at 41-35. But the Pirates responded with a 13-0 run, including three three-point shots, over the next six minutes to take a 48-41 lead. Colin Willemsen's three-point play then gave the Pirates a 59-49 lead with 9:22 to go. Occidental got back within 59-53 after a three-point play by Sasich, but Whitworth answered with a 9-1 run to take its biggest lead of the game (68-54) 3:52 to play.

Occidental did its best to claw back into the game and another Conti three-pointer pulled the Tigers within 75-68 with just over a minute to play. But Occidental could only foul and the Pirates went 12-12 from the line in the final 1:21 of the game to keep the Tigers at bay. Whitworth finished 20-20 from the free throw line.

Symes was 9 of 13 from the floor and 4 of 4 from the line for his 24 points. David Riley added 19 points for the Pirates, including 5 of 8 from three point range. Colin Willemsen finished with 15 points and eight rebounds and Ross Nakamura totaled 11 points and a game-high eight assists.

Whitman finished 6 of 23 from the floor for his team-leading 23 points. He was 5 of 15 from three point range. He added a team-leading six assists. Conti went 5 of 7 from three point range to finish with 18 points for the Tigers, while Chris Hunt came off of the bench for 14 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

The Pirates shot 51% from the floor and 50% (11 of 22) from three point range. Occidental made 43% of its shots, including 13 of 28 (46%) from three point range.