PORTLAND, Ore.—Brenden Patrick and Jayden Simpson combined for 46 points but Lewis & Clark College men's basketball fell 84-79 against league-leading Whitman College on Friday night in front of a raucous crowd at Pamplin Gymnasium. 
 
THE BASICS
Whitman College 84, Lewis & Clark College 79
(Lewis & Clark 12-8, Northwest Conference 6-5) 
(Whitman 16-4, Northwest Conference 9-2) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
In a back-and-forth contest that had the atmosphere of a playoff game, Lewis & Clark fell behind by 10 early and 13 midway through the second half, but never let the game get away from them. 
 
Patrick posted a game-high 26 points on 9-14 shooting and a career-high four made 3-pointers (4-4). Patrick added a team-high four assists and posted four rebounds in 26 minutes of action. 
 
Simpson was the Pioneers go-to player in the second half. The junior forward posted 13 of his 20 points in the second half and drew nine fouls on the Whitman bigs. He went 5-13 from the field, 10-11 from the charity stripe and added two offensive rebounds and a steal. 
 
Senior Jack Henderson added 10 points and junior Nikko Echalas chipped in nine points, three rebounds and three steals. 
 
Murphy Caffo and Walter Lum each posted a team-high 15 points for Whitman before both players fouled out. Ali Efe Isik was the final Blue in double figures, as he notched 10 points. 
 
Whitman grabbed a 24-14 lead 10:05 into the contest but Lewis & Clark would immediately respond. The Pios went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit back to three with Ryan Trunkett (3-point play), Khalil Glover-Dodson and Echalas all hitting free throws. 
 
The lead would yo-yo between three and seven points for the next five minutes before Lewis & Clark would use a 9-2 flurry to tie the game at 35. Echalas posted four points during the stretch and Simpson and Patrick each added two points to tie the game with 1:14 left in the half. Alex Pape hit a layup with 48 seconds left in the half to give Whitman a 37-35 edge at the break. 
 
Whitman came out red-hot to start the second half and used a slew of second-chance points to start the half on a 5-0 run and eventually build their advantage to 13 (68-55) with 9:16 to go in the game. 
 
After struggling to get any closer than 10 points over the next three minutes, Henderson and Patrick hit back-to-back threes to cut the Whitman lead to 74-68 with 3:54 to play. 
 
Lum would record an old-fashioned 3-point play on the next possession to stretch the advantage back to nine and Lewis & Clark wouldn't get any closer than six until the final 14 seconds. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Simpson drew seven fouls in the second half and went 9-10 from the free throw line. His 20 total points are the third-most of his career and his 10 made free throws tied his career-high. 
• After shooting 38.7 percent from the field (25 percent from deep) in the first half, Lewis & Clark shot 59.1 percent (13-22) from the field and 71.4 percent (5-7) from deep in the second stanza. 
• Patrick now ranks 28^th in program history in career points (1,069). He is just 30 points shy of tying Gary Warren ('73) for 25^th in program history. With his 26 points, Patrick now has a career-high 430 points in a single season-he finished his junior campaign with 415. 
• With the loss, Lewis & Clark is tied for fourth place in the NWC standings. The Pios (6-5) have the tiebreaker over Linfield (6-5) after their buzzer-beater win on January 13. 

WHO'S NEXT
 
The Pioneers will host second-place Whitworth University on Saturday at 6 p.m.