TACOMA, Wash. - Leighton Kingma and Conor Geiger combined for 40 points but it was enough as the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team fell short 82-74 against State University of New York-Old Westbury, in a wild affair on Friday inside Olson Gymnasium featuring 11 lead changes and 10 ties. 

"We missed an opportunity tonight but I was really excited about some individual and team performances from our new group," said Head Coach Chad Murray. "We're no different than anyone else and we shouldn't expect to win when we don't take care of the ball or rebound on the defensive end. We had some chances to pull away tonight but couldn't quite get it done."

The wild back and forth contest featured neither team owning a lead greater than nine points. The game eventually tilted in favor of the Panthers (1-0) with Inderpal Dhaliwal draining a three with 2:58 remaining to give the visitors the lead for good. Old Westbury would hit five of its six free throws, including four in the final 46 minutes to hold on for the eight-point win. 

An Old Westbury three midway through the first gave the visitors a 12-10 lead before the Lutes piled on the next 10, including a three from Jacob Bingham with 9:32 left in the opening stanza to give the homestanding Lutes (0-1) an eight point cushion. The momentum eventually swung back to the Panthers who build a nine-point gap with 1:43 left in the first. A three from Tyler Combs and a Zac Webb layup put the Lutes down just four at the halftime break. 

Six consecutive points from Kingma put the Lutes up 55-48 with 13:52 left in the second half but Old Westbury was able to tie the game seven minutes later before taking the lead for good just four minutes after that. 

Kingma led all scorers with 24 points, draining four threes and hitting all six of his free throws. He additionally filled out the stat sheet with eight rebounds, five blocks, and three assists. Geiger added 16 points and six boards, sinking four of his five three-point attempts while Jordan Thomas netted nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds. 

"Give credit to Old Westbury, they took advantage of our youth and inexperience to create turnovers and opportunities in transition as well as converting easy put backs and kick out threes from offensive rebounds."

The Lutes held a slight shooting edge from the floor, shooting at a 42.2 percent clip (27-for-64) compared to Old Westbury (31-for-74) but were outrebounded by a 48-38 margin.

"All in all though, I thought there were a lot of bright spots and reasons for optimism when thinking about where we're headed and what we can become."

PLU is back on the court on Tuesday, facing off against local rival Evergreen State College at 7 p.m. inside Olson Gymnasium.