SPOKANE, Wash. --- George Fox University's men's basketball team played with true grit Friday night, as the Bruins battled with the Pirates of Whitworth University.

The Pirates beat the Bruins, 90-76. The Bruins fall to 5-17 overall and 3-10 in the Northwest Conference. Whitworth improves to 19-4 overall and 12-1 in the Northwest Conference.

In the opening minutes, the Pirates used their home court advantage to go on an 11-0 run. Whitworth kept on the gas for the next five minutes increasing its lead to 19 after a dunk by Pirate' Adam Wilks.

Not going down without a fight, the Bruins started its climb to the top cutting the lead to 12 after an 8-0 run lead by Andrew Smith. After finding its new found momentum, George Fox managed to go into the half down by 11, 49-38.

Before both teams went into the break a technical foul was called on the Pirate bench, and the Bruins would start the second half with two free throws. JJ Lacey knocked the pair down from the stripe and cut the lead inside double-digits, 49-40.

The rest of the second half went the Pirates way, as the Bruins did everything in their power to keep the game within arm's reach. Although the score didn't show it, the game was quite competitive, and the Bruins kept the pressure on the entire game.

JJ Lacey led the Bruins on the night scoring his jersey number with 22 points. Andrew Smith was one point shy of tying his career-high with 16 points, going 4-for-5 from the 3-point line. Johnathan Doutt added 12 points, while Chris Stanfield finished with 11.

The Bruins will head to Walla Walla tomorrow to take on Whitman College with tip-off at 6:00 p.m.