ORANGE, Calif. – Occidental scored 56 points in the second half to overcome a 10-point deficit and defeat Pacific Lutheran 81-74 in a nonconference men's basketball game Saturday evening.

Pacific Lutheran falls to 3-5 overall with the loss, while Occidental improves to 4-3. The Lutes return to action Sunday, taking on Chapman at 6:30 p.m.

Brandon Lester made six of his eight shots, including all four of his three-point attempts, to lead PLU with 18 total points. Andrew Alness scored 11 points, and Kai Hoyt added 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds as PLU shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) overall and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from beyond the arc.

Kris Montoya scored a game-high 28 points for Occidental. Juwan Rice finished with 13 points for the Tigers, while Jay Miller scored 12 and Andrew Johnson added 11. The Tigers out-rebounded the Lutes 35-to-28 in the win.

Occidental made seven fewer shots than Pacific Lutheran – connecting on 20 of 46 attempts for a .435 shooting percentage – but the Tigers made 30 of their 42 attempts from the free throw line to outscore the Lutes 30-to-12 at the charity stripe. PLU attempted 19 free throws, 23 fewer than Occidental.

The Tigers scored the first six points of the game, but the Lutes tied it up at 13-13 a few minutes later and led for most of the first half. PLU took a 33-25 advantage into the halftime break and took its largest lead of the game 18 seconds into the second half when Seth Anderson's layup put the Lutes up 10.

Montoya responded with a three-pointer for Occidental, as the Tigers used a 9-1 run to pull within two. The Lutes continued to lead for the next 10 minutes of play before Rice tied it up at 60-60 with a layup. The sixth and final tie score of the game came three minutes later at 65-65 before a 13-3 run put Occidental up 78-68 with 19 seconds remaining. Three-pointers by Lester and Terrell Williams helped the Lutes' narrow the lead, but time ran out on the Lutes' comeback attempt and the Tigers clinched the seven-point win.