TACOMA, Wash. - Leighton Kingma scored a season-high 28 points but it wasn't enough as Northwest Christian University canned 17 three-pointers to sprint past the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team 107-87 on Saturday in a non-conference tilt inside Olson Gymnasium.

The first five minutes of the second half proved decisive in a game that featured eight lead changes and five ties. The game was deadlocked at 45 coming out of the half before the Beacons (9-2) notched the opening eight points of the second half. The surge was part of a 26-6 scoring binge for Northwest Christian in the opening five minutes while the Beacons drained eight of their 11 attempts from three-point land in the first 10 minutes of the second stanza. The Lutes (3-3) whittled the deficit to 13 on a Conor Geiger layup with three minutes left but homestanding PLU was unable to come any closer. 

It was the Leighton Kingma show early in the first half with the junior scoring 11 of the Lutes' opening 13 points. The first seven minutes was a back and forth affair with eight lead changes and five ties. The Beacons' Tyrus Williams hit a three with 12:50 left in the half that tilted the scales 13-10 in the visitors favor. Northwest Christian would grow the lead to six but the Lutes battled back, scoring six of the final eight points to tie the game 45-45 at the halftime intermission.

Kingma finished the night with 28 points, hitting seven of his 10 shots from distance while also collecting three blocks. Kelton Williams added 14 points and nine assists while Jordan Thomas netted 12 points and seven rebounds. Geiger and Zac Webb each finished with 10 points while Webb coming off the bench and also grabbing five rebounds.

"It starts and finishes with how you guard the ball and your ability to keep it in front of you without too much help. They overwhelmed us in that early stage of the second half with head down straight line drives that led to kick out threes that they made at an amazing rate," said Head Coach Chad Murray. 

"Before we knew what hit us we were down double digits and just fighting to keep pace. It's a great lesson for a young team about how important it is to be able to play 40 minutes. We're going to be involved in several close games and if we can stay together and resist the temptation to want to do things ourselves we will have more positive results. Give Northwest Christian credit, they stuck with it and kept attacking and really played great basketball the entire second half."

Ernest Ugoagu led Northwest Christian with 33 points while Tyrus Hosley finished one assist shy of a triple-double with 13 points, 10 boards, and nine helpers. 

PLU finished the day shooting 47.9 percent (34-for-71) from the floor, including at a 50 percent clip (17-for-34) in the second half but it was no match for the Beacons who hit 68.6 percent of shots (24-for-35) in the second half and 56.3 percent (40-for-71) overall. The Lutes owned a 25-23 edge in points off turnovers and a 40-38 edge in points in the paint but was outdueled 14-4 in fast break scoring.

The Lutes take next week off as they focus on final exams before hosting Benedictine University on Dec. 21. Tipoff inside Olson Gymnasium is slated for 7 p.m.