ORANGE, Calif. – For the second straight night a major free throw discrepancy cost Pacific Lutheran, as the Chapman attempted 15 more shots from the charity stripe in defeating the Lutes 75-64 in nonconference men's basketball action Sunday evening.

The loss drops Pacific Lutheran's season record to 3-6 as the Lutes now take a week off for the Christmas break before opening Northwest Conference play on Jan. 3 against George Fox at 8 p.m. Chapman improves to 7-3 overall with the win.

Pacific Lutheran made 44.4 percent of its shots (24-of-54) and 83.3 percent of its free throws (15-of-18), but despite the Lutes only finishing with three more fouls than the Panthers Chapman attempted 15 more free throws than PLU. The Panthers took advantage of the advantage, making 29 of their 33 free throws (87.9 percent).

Kai Hoyt made nine of his 14 shot attempts to tally a game-high 19 points while tying for a game-high six rebounds. Bryce Miller added 15 points for the Lutes, and Brandon Lester totaled nine. Colin Zavrsnick led Chapman with 18 points, and Taylor Hamasaki made all 10 of his attempts from the charity stripe to score 17.

Lester and Miller combined for the first seven points of the game as the Lutes jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Panthers scored the next seven to tie it up. The teams went back and forth for the next 10 minutes before Chapman used an 11-point run to pull ahead 33-21 with 4:04 to play in the opening half. A jumper by Hoyt ended the CU run and helped the Lutes close out the half on a 9-4 run as the teams went into the half with Chapman up 37-30.

Chapman stretched its lead back to 11 just over five minutes into the second period at 47-36, but a pair of free throws by Lester began a nine-minute 20-10 run that made it 57-56 when Terrell Williams hit a jumper with 6:30 remaining. The Lutes hung close for the next four minutes, pulling within one for the final time at 63-62, but the Panthers made nine of their 10 free throw attempts in the final 81 seconds to pull away and close out the win.