SALEM, Ore. - Kyle MacTaggart scored 24 of his game-high 31
points in the second half on Friday night to lead Pacific Lutheran
to a 96-90 Northwest Conference men's basketball win over the
Willamette Bearcats at Cone Field House.
With the victory, the Lutes improve to 5-2 in the Northwest
Conference, good for third place, and they are 7-7 overall.
Willamette remained winless in seven NWC contests and is now 3-13
for the season.
The 31 points was a career-high for MacTaggart, a 6-4
junior wing from Arizona, and topped his previous best of
26 points set one week ago in a home win over Whitman. After
scoring seven points in the opening half, MacTaggart scored
half of the Lutes' 48 second-half points. He made 9-of-15
shots from the field, including a pair of three-point baskets, and
also hit 4-of-5 at the foul line in the final period. In addition
to his point production, MacTaggart also led the Lutes with nine
rebounds.
James Conti scored 16 points, Curtis Trondsen came off the bench
to tally 13, and Tony Polis added 11 points and eight assists in
his first start of the season. The Lutes shot 48 percent (35-of-73)
from the field, including 46 percent (12-of-26) from beyond the
arc. Willamette was even more proficient, making 56 percent
(35-of-63) of its shots, but came up short in three point accuracy
at 33 percent (8-of-24).
Cameron Mitchell went over the 1,000-point mark in his three
seasons at Willamette when he scored for the Bearcats with five
seconds left in the game. He now has 1,001 points at Willamette.
Mitchell finished with 24 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
The Lutes led by as much as 11 points on several occasions, the
last time coming at 77-66 on MacTaggart's
three-point play with 7:48 remaining in the game. The Bearcats
scored eight unanswered points to get back into the game, but they
got no closer than three points the rest of the way.
The Lutes return to conference action at 8 p.m. Saturday when
they face the George Fox Bruins in Newberg, Ore.
- PLU -
