Complete box score

SPOKANE, Wash. – Trailing 62-61 with four minutes left in the game, Whitworth outscored visiting Willamette 16-3 to will a 77-65 win in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Calvin Jurich

Calvin Jurich (Sr., P, Spokane, Wash.) scored a career-high 27 points and led all players with 13 rebounds to lead the Pirates to the win. It was his three-point play that put the Pirates back ahead 64-62 and Tim Sellereit (Sr., G, Bellingham, Wash.) followed with back to back three-pointers to put the Pirates up 70-62. Jurich scored inside again for a 72-62 Whitworth lead with 1:35 to play and the Pirates were able to hit free throws down the stretch. Sellereit finished with 19 points for Whitworth (16-4 overall, 8-3 NWC).

But Willamette (9-9, 5-6) fought tooth and nail with the Pirates for the first 36 minutes of the game. The Bearcats led for the first nine minutes of the game, taking their largest lead at 15-10 on a jumper by Marcus Holmes. But Whitworth answered with a 10-0 run, sparked by a Sellereit three and five points by Jurich. The game was tied 28-28 before the Pirates went into the half on a 7-0 run for a 35-28 lead. David Riley (So., G, Palo Alto, Calif.) scored the final five points for the Bucs.

After Nate Montgomery (Jr., P, Sammamish, Wash.) scored inside to put Whitworth up nine to start the second period, Willamette began to steadily chip away at the lead. Kyler McClary scored six straight for the Bearcats to get his team close and Cory Costantino pulled Willamette within 38-36. McClary tied the game at 41-41 with a pair of free throws and it was tied three more times before Tain Cantrell gave the Bearcats their first lead of the second half (60-58) with a long three with 4:50 to play

Whitworth remains tied for second place in the NWC standings with Lewis & Clark after the Pioneers won 62-49 at George Fox tonight.

Jurich's previous career high was 22 points on December 6th against UC Santa Cruz. Sellereit's big night came off of the bench. He came in after starter Clay Gebbers left five minutes into the game after hitting his head on the floor in a fall.

Montgomery added 11 points and seven boards for the Bucs, while Ross Nakamura (Sr., G, Moraga, Calif.) dished six assists.

McClary led Willamette with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Costantino added 11 points. Josh Erickson led the Bearcats with five assists.

Whitworth will host Linfield on Saturday, while Willamette travels to play at Whitman.