LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The No. 2 Pirates of Whitworth University were too much for the Knights on Tuesday night at the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Pirates improved to 10-0 with the 68-65 victory, Calvin is now 4-6 on the year.

"I thought that we were disciplined tonight," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "Particularly on defense. Whitworth is a very fine team but we did not back down so I'm proud of our guys for their effort. We never want to lose so this one stings a bit because we were right there at the end but if we can continue to play with this kind of focus and intensity, we can start to build some positive momentum for the rest of the season." 

The Pirates started the night with an early 8-0 lead. The Knights would fight back to tie the game at 11. Whitworth extended the lead to 11 at 28-17, Calvin would cut the lead to four at 32-28 at halftime.

Calvin came out of the locker room with a 5-0 run to give the Knights a 33-32 lead. The two teams would exchange the lead until the two were tied at 52. The Pirates would go on a 5-0 run from where they would not give back the lead. The Knights would chip away at the lead, but the ball bounced out of the basket on the potential game-tying shot.

Calvin had a balanced attack on Tuesday with seven players with five or more points. The Knights were led by senior Jordan Daley (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) with 14 points. He also had a team-high five rebounds.

Sophomore Michael Wilks (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) had 12 points and sophomore Mike Siegel (Fremont, Mich./Fremont) finished with 10 points.

Calvin won the rebounding battle on Tuesday, 32-31. Nine of the 10 Knights recorded a rebound in the game.

The Knights return to the court on Wednesday as they face St. Vincent at 9 p.m. at the D3Hoops.com Classic.