SPOKANE, Wash. – A 21-5 run by Whitworth University in the final six minutes of the game ended the chance for an East Texas Baptist University victory as the Tigers moved to 0-2 on the year, 84-69. ETBU was up 64-63 with 6:07 to go and didn't hit a basket from the floor for five minutes as Whitworth took a double-digit lead.
 
Four players produced double figures for ETBU as Jason Justice led the way with 25 points. At one point in the first half, he scored 18 straight points to keep ETBU in the game. Michael Roberts added 13 points, Colin Roberts had 11 points, and Nathan Fleming had 10 points. Michael Roberts led the team in rebounding with five.
 
After shooting 61.5 percent in the first half, ETBU finished from the floor at 51 percent. They went 3-for-9 from the arc (33 percent) and 14-of-20 from the line (70 percent). Whitworth finished at 55 percent shooting, 35 percent in three-pointers (5-of-14), and went 15-of-21 from the foul line (71 percent). Whitworth outrebounded ETBU 31-25 and forced 15 ETBU turnovers.
 
The first six minutes went back and forth as Whitworth held an 11-10 lead at 13:55. Whitworth would keep a bucket's lead for most of the next five minutes and took a four-point lead, 24-20 on a three-pointer with 8:13 left. In the next four minutes, ETBU went on a 14-10 run for a four-point lead, 34-30, on a Justice three-pointer. Just before this run, from the 9:21 mark, Justice started his 18-point run, ending with the three-pointer and four-point advantage. Joshua Joe kept ETBU's lead at three, 36-33, with 1:13 left, but Whitworth hit a layup and converted a three-pointer off a missed ETBU shot to take a 38-36 lead at the half.
 
Whitworth outscored ETBU, 12-3, in the first three minutes of the second half to move their lead to 11 points, 50-39. ETBU had to play catch from that point on. Three free throws at 16:06 put Whitworth's lead at 12, 53-41, as they kept that lead at 54-42 with 15:31 to play. ETBU responded on a 14-3 run over six minutes cutting the lead to one, 57-56. Justice had seven of the 14 points, and Nikolas Morin brought ETBU within one with a hook shot at 9:31. At 8:10, Colin Roberts tied the game at 60 on a three-point play, and at 6:07 he put ETBU in front, 64-63, on two free throws. ETBU would not he another shot from the floor for over six minutes as Michael Roberts' dunk at 7:13 was the last bucket made until a three-pointer by Joshua Davis, Jr. at 1:31. That shot brought Whitworth's lead to nine, 78-69, but the Pirates scored the final six points for the 15-point win over ETBU, 84-69.
 
ETBU travels to Whitman College on Wednesday, Nov. 13, for an 8:00 p.m. central start.