McMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Pacific Lutheran men's basketball team used a 90-percent free throw performance to claim a 60-45 Northwest Conference win over Linfield Saturday night at Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

With the win, PLU improved to 8-15 overall and 6-8 in conference play this season. Linfield fell to 3-20 overall and 1-13 in the NWC. The Lutes wrap up the regular season schedule next weekend at home, hosting Whitworth on Friday at 8 p.m. and Whitman on Senior Day Saturday at 6 p.m.

Kyle Sawtell scored a career-best 15 points, making five of his eight shot attempts overall and three of five from three-point range to lead the Lutes. Seth Anderson scored 11 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds, and Brandon Lester added 10 for PLU. Ryan Cali led Linfield with nine points.

The game featured three tie scores and six lead changes, all in the first period. PLU scored the first five points of the night on a jumper by Lester and a three-pointer by Sawtell, but Linfield rallied to take its first lead of the day at 11-10 on a Kevin Hurley three-pointer six minutes into the game. The teams remained close for the rest of the period, with PLU taking a 24-22 lead into halftime.

Pacific Lutheran scored 16 of the first 20 points in the second period to stretch its lead to 40-26 following a jumper by Anderson six minutes after the break. Three straight three-pointers by Linfield in only 75 seconds helped the Wildcats draw back within five points, but that was the closest Linfield would get.

PLU made nine of 10 free throws in the final four minutes of play to pull away to the 15-point win, with Lester making all eight of his attempts during that stretch. For the night, PLU shot a season-best 90 percent from the line (18-of-20), compared to only 6-of-15 for Linfield at the charity stripe. Overall, PLU shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the field against Linfield's .366 shooting mark (15-of-41).