SPOKANE, Wash. - It was the Sean McCurdy show on Friday night. The senior piled on 28 points along with 11 rebounds as the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team escaped the hostile WU Fieldhouse with an 83-77 victory over Northwest Conference rival Whitworth University.

Friday's victory extended the Lutes' win streak to three and marks the first road win in Spokane against the Pirates (11-7, 6-3 NWC) since the 1997-1998 season.

Visiting Pacific Lutheran (10-8, 4-5 NWC) conceded the opening bucket but led nearly wire-to-wire. The Lutes took a six-point lead on a Sam Noland three with 13:07 left in the first. That lead swelled to double digits for the first time on a Croix Sweeney layup with 6:30 remaining while another Noland trey gave the Lutes a 35-24 halftime advantage.

PLU's mushroomed to 17 early in the second half but the pesky Pirates chipped into the lead, closing within nine with just over 10 minutes to play. The Lute lead withered to just three with 4:24 remaining. A McCurdy layup put the Lutes up six with 25 seconds left before Whitworth buried a three to again make it a one possession game. PLU buckled down, making three free throws down the stretch and getting a clutch steal from Shane McGaughey-Fick and a block from Brandin Riedel to preserve the road win.
 
"We came into this game very confident that we could take on this challenge," said Head Coach Chad Murray.

"The guys set the tone early with some great defense and did a fantastic job of responding to everything Whitworth threw at us. We weren't perfect but that's not what we're going for. We're just trying to be our best selves because anything less wouldn't be good enough here in Spokane."

McCurdy hit on 11 of his 18 field goals on the night, finishing two points shy of his career-high. The senior logged his seventh double-double of the year while scoring over 20 points for the fourth time in the last five games.

"Sean has really had a great handful of games over the last two weeks. He is leading effectively both with his voice and with his play. It's great to see his dedication pay off with some big wins."

PLU's supporting cast was more than up to the task. Sam Noland hit three treys and scored 17 points with Brandin Riedel adding 14 points and five rebounds, going a perfect seven-for-seven from the floor. Jackson Reisner had 10 points while Shane McGaughey-Fick added six points, six rebounds, and a team-best six assists.

The shots were falling all night for PLU, shooting 58.2 percent from the floor (32-for-55) including a blistering 60 percent (18-for-30) in the game's final 20 minutes.

"We haven't won here in a really long time so I'm just thrilled we got that monkey off our back. We have a really tough game tomorrow night and that will be just as big a challenge as this one but we're up for it and we'll be ready."

The Lutes close out their eastern Washington road swing tomorrow night with a 6 p.m. showdown with NWC-leaders Whitman College.