Written by Student Assistant Christian Bond

PORTLAND, Ore. – Four of the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team's starters scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as host Lewis & Clark College toppled the Lutes 79-69 in a Northwest Conference clash on Friday night.

PLU (4-17, 1-12 NWC) fell behind quickly, trailing 8-2 after the first 1:30 of the game. The Lutes would tie it at 10 with 17 minutes left, before letting another run go in favor of the Pioneers (8-14, 4-9 NWC). L&C would carry a 48-36 lead into the halftime break. The Lutes cut the lead to six points with just under eight minutes remaining, but the Pioneers scurried away with the game.

"We've been trying to address this all season," said Head Coach Chad Murray. "We need to be locked in right from the tip and not assume we can ease into the flow of the game. We lack a sense of urgency early on in games and it costs us."

Zac Webb, Kelton Williams, Leighton Kingma, and Markus Glenn combined for 44 of the 69 points PLU scored against Lewis & Clark. Webb led the way with 17 points, hitting six field goals. Webb wrangled four rebounds and dished out two assists. Williams poured in 14 points. Williams was efficient, going six-for-eight from the field, including a pair of three-point buckets. The point guard threw three assists to his teammates.

Kingma scored 12 points for his squad, highlighted by a pair of threes. The sophomore had a huge impact on the glass for the Lutes, grabbing nine rebounds. Glenn has a hot hand from behind the arc, hitting three triples on his way to dropping 11 points.

"We played our starters heavier minutes tonight. We don't match up particularly well with Lewis & Clark so we went with the guys who were performing well on both sides of the floor. I thought Luke Worley and Jack Adams III did a nice job in the second half matching the intensity and pace of the game."

The Lutes return to the court tomorrow at 6 p.m. for a game against Linfield College.