COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Luke Harris (So./Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) poured in a game-high 23 points—including 14 in the second half—as the Carleton College men's basketball team secured a 76-59 victory over Whitworth University in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Thanksgiving Classic. The Knights jumped out to an 18-point lead by halftime and cruised to a second straight win to start the season.
 
Carleton (2-0) held the Pirates (2-3)—who were receiving votes in the D3hoops.com national poll—to only 35 percent shooting in the contest. The Knights advance to the tournament's championship game and will face Carroll University (Wis.) at 7:30 p.m. MT / 8:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Nov. 26. Whitworth will square off against host Colorado College in the consolation game.
 
"Terrific win tonight for our team against and excellent Whitworth program," said Carleton head coach Ryan Kershaw. "Our execution throughout the majority of the first half was as good as we have seen in some time. I'm really proud of our team and am very happy we were able to play at a high level tonight. We have a quick turnaround against a quality Carroll team in what should be another excellent game tomorrow."
 
The first seven minutes of the game featured four ties and seven lead changes. Whitworth led 18-14 before Harris converted in the lane and Beck Page (Sr./Longmont, Colo./Longmont) drained a 3-pointer that pushed Carleton in front to stay.
 
The Knights later led 23-22 with 9:00 remaining in the first half when Brad Lee's (Sr./La Canada Flintridge, Calif./Maranatha) jumper sparked a 20-3 run to close the stanza. Alex Gibbens (Jr./New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) tallied six of his 16 points during that spurt, while the defense limited Whitworth to a 1-for-14 shooting performance over that same stretch. The Knights carried a 43-25 advantage into intermission.
 
With Carleton leading 54-34 early in the second half, the Pirates put together a 17-6 run to trim the deficit to single digits, but the Knights countered with a 14-2 outburst that put the game out of reach. Matt Banovetz (Jr./Minneapolis, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) got that stretch started with a layup and Gibbens added one of his three 3-pointers. After a Whitworth bucket, Harris scored the contest's next nine points to extend the lead out to a game-high 21 points at 74-53 with under five minutes remaining.
 
Harris added nine rebounds in addition to his second consecutive 20-plus point effort to start the season. Jeremy Beckler (Sr./Lino Lakes, Minn./White Bear Lake) chipped in 16 points to join Harris and Gibbens in double figures.
 
As a team, Carleton shot 51 percent overall despite a meager 6-of-23 (26 percent) performance from beyond the arc.
 
JT McDermott had 19 points to pace Whitworth, with Rowan Anderson contributing 14 points. The Knights limited Jake Holtz, the Pirates' leading scorer this season at 16.5 points per contest, to only eight points. Whitworth finished 7-of-29 (24 percent) from long range as a team.