TACOMA, Wash. – The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball battled Linfield College to the waning minutes of Friday night's home Northwest Conference opener, but the Wildcats repelled a Lute comeback effort in a 68-54 victory. 
 
Linfield (9-3, 3-0 NWC) held PLU (4-8, 0-3 NWC) in check in the first half offensively as the Lutes shot just 34.5 percent from the field and were just 2-for-10 from the three-point line.  
 
The two teams were all tied up after the first 11 minutes of action, but the visitors went on an 11-0 run to give them a 22-11 lead with 6:55 remaining in the half.  It appeared that the Wildcats would carry that 11-point advantage into halftime, but Kelton Williams hit a long jumper as time expired to cut the lead to nine, 32-23.  
 
The Lutes forced Linfield into 12 first-half turnovers and Jordan Thomas had three steals to keep the home team within striking distance.  
 
After Linfield extended their lead to 15 in the second half, the PLU put the clamps on the Wildcats and held them scoreless for nearly seven minutes as they charged back into the game and cut the lead all the way down to seven, 40-33, with 10:48 remaining.  
 
The Lutes continued the charge in crunch time, cutting the margin down to five on two separate occasions, but Linfield had an answer every time the game got within question.  The Wildcats eventually rebuilt their lead to 11 with 2:27 remaining after a pair of free throws by Tanner Autencio.
 
Leighton Kingma led the Lutes with 15 points, while Conor Geiger chipped in 13.  Despite scoring just three points, Luke Worley played tough defense all night and produced a solid floor game with five rebounds and five assists.  PLU held the Wildcats to over 20 points below their season average on the night, despite being outrebounded by 14.  
 
PLU has a quick turnaround as they host George Fox University tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. inside Olson Gymnasium.