PASADENA, Calif. – Leighton Kingma poured in 32 points but the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team was unable to eclipse California Institute of Technology, falling 69-66 in California.
 
Kingma proved to be a thorn in Cal Tech's side all night, score a game-high 30 points, shooting 12-for- 17 from the field while making four three-pointers.
 
PLU took a six-point lead into the locker room at the end of the first half, but the Beavers fought back with a seven-point run to take the lead.  The Lutes took a brief lead with just over four minutes remaining, but the Beavers rallied to close out the game.
 
"We played a really inspired first half, but we couldn't sustain the energy level we needed in the second half," said Head Coach Chad Murray.  "We could not contain their penetration and that led to them getting really hot from the three-point line. We battled back and really fought hard to regain a slight advantage, but just could not make enough plays down the stretch."
 
Zac Webb scored 12 pointes while Conor Geiger scored 11, including two three-pointers.
 
"This has been a really meaningful 24 hours for our team and I hope that we can use these two games to help us as we head into Northwest Conference competition next week."
 
The Lutes close out the California road trip facing Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on New Year's Eve at 4 p.m.