SPOKANE, Wash. – Lewis & Clark College men's basketball trimmed a 17-point second-half deficit to two in the final minutes but fell 72-69 to Northwest Conference-leading Whitworth University on Friday at Whitworth Fieldhouse.
 
THE BASICS
 
Whitworth 72, Lewis & Clark 69
Lewis & Clark (11-11, 7-6 NWC)
Whitworth (18-4, 12-1 NWC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Senior Kody Uyesugi led all scorers with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added three rebounds. His two second-half 3-pointers helped bring Lewis & Clark within single digits after trailing by 17.
 
Senior Justin White finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Junior Joe Brown also scored 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc and pulled down six rebounds.
 
Junior Yigit Arcan contributed eight points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals off the bench.
 
Senior Taien Jackson shot 4-for-4 from the field and scored eight points, while sophomore Marcus Bast dished out a team-high six assists.
 
Lewis & Clark opened the game with a 10-4 lead after a 3-pointer by White at the 17:41 mark. Whitworth answered with a 20-2 run over the next nine minutes to build a 24-12 advantage. The Pirates pushed the margin to 42-28 at halftime while shooting 47.2 percent from the field.
 
Whitworth stretched its lead to 55-38 with 12:33 remaining. Lewis & Clark responded with a 14-4 run over the next four minutes. Back-to-back layups by sophomore Darius Wilcher, who finished with seven points, brought Lewis & Clark within seven at 59-52 with 7:52 left.
 
Two 3-pointers from Brown pulled Lewis & Clark within three at 65-62 with 2:58 remaining. His second triple, assisted by White, made it 67-65 with 2:22 to play.
 
Whitworth's Stephen Behil answered with a layup, but Jackson converted a driving layup to make it 69-67 with 1:42 left. Ben Nyquist's layup pushed the Pirates' lead back to four at 71-67 with 1:28 remaining.
 
Jackson stole the ball and scored in transition to pull Lewis & Clark within 71-69 with 1:02 left.
 
Whitworth missed a 3-point attempt on its next possession, but Ty Edwards grabbed the offensive rebound. After a missed layup, Caden Bateman secured the ball and drew a foul with 10 seconds left. Nyquist made one of two free throws to extend the lead to 72-69 with seven seconds remaining. Brown's potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer was blocked by Bateman.
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Lewis & Clark outscored Whitworth 41-30 in the second half after trailing by 14 at halftime.
• Uyesugi has led the team in scoring in the last three games and is averaging 19 points per game during that stretch.
• Lewis & Clark shot 50.0 percent in the second half (16-of-32) after shooting 38.7 percent in the first (12-of-31).
• With three games remaining, Lewis & Clark sits in fourth place in the NWC standings, 1.5 games behind Willamette for third and one game ahead of Linfield.

 
WHO'S NEXT
 
Lewis & Clark travels to Walla Walla for a 5 p.m. Northwest Conference game against Whitman on Saturday.