Men’s basketball: Whitworth holds off Mary Hardin-Baylor to improve to 11-0

Kenny Love and Christian Jurlina scored 15 points apiece and George Valle added 14 Wednesday as Whitworth improved to 11-0 with a 68-58 victory over Mary Hardin-Baylor at the D3hoops.com Classic at Las Vegas.

The second-ranked Pirates hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 1 minute, 5 seconds to seal the victory.

The Crusaders (3-6) led 48-42 after Avery Polchinski’s layup with 10:35 remaining. Whitworth responded with a 7-0 run, highlighted by Matt Staudacher’s only points of the game on a 3-pointer and two free throws.

Valle’s layup with 7:41 left gave Whitworth the lead for good. Valle’s 3-pointer with 5:56 left boosted the lead to four.

Valle added a game-high 11 rebounds and four assists. Love shot 4 of 9 on 3-pointers and also had four assists.

Russell Green led the Crusaders with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Whitworth will return to Northwest Conference play Tuesday night at home against Whitman.