SPOKANE, Wash. – The Puget Sound men's basketball team finished their 2023-24 season in an 80-59 loss to Whitworth University on Friday night. Dezman Baker scored 23 points going 10-for-16 from the field grabbing seven rebounds in the loss. 

The Loggers seized more points in the paint than the Whitworth Pirates with 38 to the Pirates 36 points, but the Pirates scored 32 points off the bench to drown the Loggers scanty six points. Whitworth's Jake Holtz scored a game-high 24 points shooting for 68.8% from the floor, Sullivan Menard followed with 19. 

Baker started the scoring with a jumper that Menard quickly equalized. The Loggers went back and forth with the Pirates, claiming three tied scores. The Pirates started to inch away, gaining a 15 point lead 38-23 with 4:26 left on the clock until halftime. The Loggers held the Pirates from scoring more than one after that, going on a 6-1 run to end the period 39-29. Baker scored 12 at a 55.6% rate, but the Loggers only shot for 40.6%, while the Pirates shots were dropping at a 59.3% rate. 

The Pirates led the scoring in the second half managing to extend the lead to double-digits, with their biggest lead happening after a turnover jumper made by Holtz that made it 77-55. The Loggers saw a shift at the 17:22 mark as the Pirates took a seven point run then continued to chip away at a greater lead. The Loggers couldn't find a shooting rhythm succumbing to a 40.6% rate, whereas the Pirates dominated offensively shooting for 57.7%. 

Liam Ruttledge pushed for nine points, Taj Phillips grabbed nine points as well adding four assists and two steals in the loss. Freshman Zane Miller brought down six boards along with Hugo Rutherfurd's six boards and seven points going 3-of-6 in the loss. 

The Loggers finished the season 9-7 in NWC and 12-12 overall.