BELTON, Texas – LeTourneau University's men's basketball team knocked off Whitman, 111-105, Saturday in the Cru Holiday Classic at Mary Hardin-Baylor.

The 111 points was a season high for the YellowJackets, and it came against a team that had been receiving votes in the d3hoops.com Top 25 national poll.

"I'm very proud of the guys for earning a great win against an excellent Whitman team," LeTourneau coach Dan Miller said. "It was great to see the guys shoot good today after yesterday's game."

LETU (7-2) shot a season-high 59.5 percent from the floor. The Jackets made a season-high 44 field goals in 74 attempts. Whitman (5-4) was 38 of 83 for 45.8 percent.

Nate West scored 30 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had eight assists, while going 11 of 17 from the floor in playing the entire game. Justin Moore had 27 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals. John Argue finished with 23 points, eight boards and two blocks. Warren Richardson had 16 points and seven rebounds.

West had a streak of 16 consecutive made free throws snapped after he split a pair in the second half which gave the Jackets an 85-79 lead with 9:28 remaining. Whitman's Andrew Vickers hit a 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor as the Blues pulled within one before Argue canned a triple of his own to push LETU's lead back to six.

Argue knocked down a jumper in the paint at the 7:16 mark to extend the lead to nine, but Vickers answered again, draining a three 12 seconds later to pull the Blues within 91-85. After Whitman's Robert Colton hit the first of two free throws, West buried a 3-pointer to give LeTourneau an eight-point edge. Vickers scored in the paint with 4:12 to go, pulling Whitman within four, but West responded with a triple to stretch the lead back to seven.

Trevor Osborne canned a 3-pointer with just over three minutes remaining as the Blues cut it to 99-95 before West hit a jumper in the lane. Colton scored with 2:25 to go to make it a four-point game again, but West's bucket 14 seconds later made it a two-possession game. Michael Gutierrez hit a 3 with 58 seconds remaining as the Blues cut the deficit to 106-102, but West answered again, connecting on a field goal in the paint with 28 seconds left on the clock. Whitman's Darne Duckett tripled with five seconds remaining, but West sank both free throws on the other end to preserve the win.

Vickers finished with 31 points and seven rebounds, and Colton had 18 points and 11 boards for the Blues, who were outrebounded 49-39.

West reached 30 points for the second straight game and third time this year. He scored 24 points on 8 of 13 shooting in the second half.

"Nate set the tone all game, finding people when he was double-teamed, and then hit some dagger shots to seal the game," Miller said.

LETU outscored Whitman, 64-44, in the paint. The Jackets' bench outproduced the Blues, 43-21. LeTourneau had 27 fast break points, despite only seven Whitman turnovers. The Blues scored 21 points in transition.

"We made some adjustments today because they press, and apply pressure the whole game," Miller said. "The guys did a great job of executing."

The YellowJackets will open American Southwest Conference play Jan. 2 at McMurry.