Texas Lutheran Falls, 85-64, to No. 14 Whitworth

SEGUIN, Texas -- Despite 13 points and five rebounds from Teddy Tapken (Austin/Lake Travis), the Texas Lutheran men's basketball team (2-7) dropped its Thursday evening contest with 14th-ranked Whitworth (9-0), 85-64, at Memorial Gymnasium.

Tapken would be joined in double figures by Trey Blackmore (San Antonio/Cole) who also finished with 13 points and a team-high four assists. Tapken would match his career-high with three made threes on four attempts, finishing 4-of-6 from the floor overall. Kevin Juarez (Pasadena/Pasadena) added nine points and nine rebounds, both career-highs, off the bench while Kris Jones (Port Aransas/Port Aransas) added eight points.

The 14th-ranked Pirates started the game on an 18-5 run and would carry a 41-30 lead into halftime. Despite chipping away at the Whitworth lead late in the first half, the Bulldogs were never able to recover from the Pirates opening run, trailing by as many as 25 points on Thursday.

The Pirates shot 52.5% from the field on the night and outrebounded the Bulldogs 45-37. The Bulldogs bench would outscore the Pirates bench 39-27.

Texas Lutheran will enjoy their Christmas break before returning to the floor against University of the Incarnate Word on December 29 at 5 PM in exhibition action on ESPN+. The exhibition will allow the Bulldogs to get their legs back under them ahead of their 2025 SCAC opener against Southwestern on Thursday, January 2. Tip-off is set for 7:30 PM. The game will be streamed on TLU+. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

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