SPOKANE, Wash. - The Lewis & Clark men's basketball team ended the 2014-2015 season with a 69-58 loss at #16 Whitworth in the Northwest Conference Tournament Championship game. 

The Pioneers end the year with a 16-10 overall record, while the Pirates improve to 24-3. Whitworth will now move onto the NCAA Division III Tournament with the NWC's automatic qualifier. 

The Pioneers were led by 14 points from Jason Luhnow with the junior hitting 5-of-13 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from three-point range. Luhnow also collected seven rebounds. Cannen Roberson ended the game with nine points, while Serg Ovchinnikov had eight and Jonathan Boddie had seven. Bradley Carter ended his career with a game-high 10 rebounds for the Pioneers. 

Kenny Love, the Northwest Conference Player of the Year, led all players with 20 points for the Pirates. George Valle ended the night with 19 points, while Christian Jurlina netted 10 points. 

A layup by Ovchinnikov, who was fouled on the play, put the Pioneers ahead 3-0 with 18:02 left in the first half. Whitworth took its first lead two minutes later, which was the first of seven lead changes the game would see.

The entire first half was a competitive back and forth with neither team earning more than a six-point advantage. Trailing 26-20 with 3:38 remaining, the Pioneers pulled within two points with :38 to go on a Carter jumper. With just seconds left, Love tossed one up from long distance to send the Pirates into the half with a 31-26 advantage.

The second half did not disappoint with both teams once again battling until the end. The Pioneers continued to chip away at the Pirate advantage, tying the game at 48-48 with 8:48 to play on a Luhnow three-pointer. Another Luhnow three with 8:08 to go gave the Pioneers their first lead since the 8:19 mark in the first half.

The lead was short lived as Matt Staudacher quickly gave it back to the Pirates with a layup. Lewis & Clark would trail Whitworth the remainder of the game.