SPOKANE – Whitworth scored the first nine points and never trailed as the Pirates defeated Pacific Lutheran 78-59 in Northwest Conference men's basketball action Saturday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse.

With the loss, Pacific Lutheran drops to 5-11 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Whitworth improves to 15-2 overall and 8-0 in the NWC. PLU takes on cross-town rival Puget Sound Tuesday in a road game at Memorial Fieldhouse, with tipoff set for 8 p.m.

Brandon Lester led all scorers with a season-best 22 points, which tied his career-high point total set twice last season. He made five of his nine shot attempts from three-point range and was the only PLU player to score more than six points. Derek Isaak missed only one of his eight shots as he scored 18 points to lead Whitworth. Kenny Love tallied 16 points, Taylor Farnsworth added 12 and Christian Jurlina grabbed a game-best nine rebounds.

Whitworth built a 13-point halftime lead after opening the game with a nine-point run and holding PLU to a 21.4-percent shooting mark (6-of-28) in the opening period. PLU rebounded to shot 45.2 percent in the second half (14-of-31), but the Pirates hit a scorching 65.4 percent of their shots after the break (17-of-26) to close out the 19-point win.

For the night, Whitworth shot 57.7 percent overall (30-of-52) and 57.9 percent from three-point range (11-of-19), while PLU shot 33.9 percent overall (20-of-59) and 41.7 percent from beyond the arc (10-of-24). The Pirates out-rebounded the Lutes 43-to-21, covering for a 16-5 turnover differential in favor of PLU.