TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team got a much-needed Northwest Conference win over George Fox University on Saturday night in Olson Gymnasium.
Leighton Kingma poured in a game-high 26 points, including 24 in the first half and
Luke Worley scored a career-high 11 to go with four rebounds, four assists and a pair of charges drawn as the Lutes led the Bruins for all but 36 seconds in a 87-76 victory.
The first half was a game of runs, before PLU took control of things in the second frame. The Lutes held a lead of 22-12 just nine minutes into the contest when Kingma made a layup on an assist from Worley. PLU (5-8, 1-3 NWC) saw the lead totally evaporate with the Bruins (6-7, 2-2 NWC) tying things up at 28 just over two minutes later.
The Lutes showed some toughness and grit as they took the Bruins' best shot and responded by taking their largest lead of the first half, 43-32, when
Trey Garey banged in a three-pointer with 2:54 left in the first 20 minutes. Kingma continued his hot shooting touch to close the half, hitting back-to-back threes in the final 84 seconds, and the Lutes headed to the locker room leading 51-43.
In the second half, the Lutes extended the advantage to 15 when
Jordan Thomas tipped in his own miss with 13:23 remaining. The lead would hit as many as 17 just moments later when
Kelton Williams banked in a jumper from the elbow. The PLU lead didn't dip below six points for the rest of the game and junior guard
Seth Hall caught fire, scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half.
For the game, Kingma led all scorers with 26 points and pulled down 10 offensive rebounds and 15 boards for the game.
Kelton Williams chipped in 15, with Worley and Hall also reaching double figures. As a team, the Lutes shot 50 percent from the field and held a 40-37 advantage on the backboard.
PLU heads north on Tuesday night when they travel to crosstown rival University of Puget Sound for an 8:00 p.m. tip. The Lutes remain on the road on Friday, heading to Oregon to take on Willamette University.
