TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team looks to continue its winning ways this weekend, returning to the friendly confines of Olson Gymnasium riding a three-game win streak. The Lutes face a pair of Oregon rivals this weekend, facing Lewis & Clark College on Friday night and Pacific University on Saturday. 

This will be the Lutes (7-8, 3-3 Northwest Conference) first game in a week after winning their previous three matchups against George Fox University (87-76), University of Puget Sound (75-65) and Willamette University (97-70) last Friday. Senior Jacob Bingham led the Lutes in their 27-point blowout of Willamette by dropping 20 and going six-for-10 from behind the arc. Senior Leighton Kingma also scored 20 points against Willamette while sophomore Jordan Thomas and junior Seth Hall contributed 13 points each as well.

Bingham, a senior from Portland, Oregon, transferred from Southwestern Oregon Community College to PLU at the start of the 2018-2019 season. He appeared in eight games for the Lutes last year and this year has already appeared in 14 games for the Lutes and is averaging 7.3 points per game on the season. Bingham, coming off his career high and the rest of the Lutes will look to continue their strong play this weekend. 

The game this Friday will tip off at 8 p.m. against Lewis & Clark and tip off against Pacific on Saturday will be at 6 p.m. Friday's game will be part of Inclusion Night as PLU will celebrate its commitment to diversity and inclusion while Saturday is LuteFest. 

 

Saturday's LuteFest Schedule: 10 AM - 1 PM: Rowing "Get Back in the Boat" 10:30 AM - 1 PM: Baseball Scrimmage 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Softball Scrimmage 11 AM - 12:30 PM: Women's Basketball Alumni Game 12 - 2 PM: Football/XCTF Locker Room Open to Public   12 – 6 PM: South Beach Cuisine Food Truck outside Olson Gymnasium 12 - 3 PM: Golf Simulator Room Open to Public 12:30 - 2 PM: Men's Basketball Alumni Game 2 - 3 PM: Cardio Tennis Class (Sprinker Recreation Center) 4 - 6 PM: Women's Basketball Game vs. Pacific 6 - 8 PM: Men's Basketball Game vs. Pacific

Jan. 24: PLU vs Lewis & Clark inside Olson Gymnasium (8 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Pioneers rivalry goes back to the 1938-1939 season with PLU owning a 71-59 overall record against Lewis & Clark. The Lutes won by 6 at home last year again L&C and won by 19 to end the season in Oregon last year

About the Pioneers: Lewis & Clark (6-9, 2-4 NWC) split their two games last weekend losing to Linfield on Friday night before bouncing back to defeat Puget Sound on Saturday night. The Pioneers have only won one of their last five games.

Senior, Zeke Crawford is the leading scorer for the Pioneers averaging 12.6 points per game. Brian Smith, Matt Brown, and Christian Pitcher are also averaging over 10 points per game for the Pioneers. The Pioneers are only averaging 63% from the free throw line as a team.

Jan. 25: PLU vs Pacific University inside Olson Gymnasium (6 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Boxers have met since the 1939-1940 season with PLU owning an 86-41 edge in the all-time series. The Boxers won both meetings last year beating the Lutes by 33 and 9. The Boxers have won the last four matchups against the Lutes.

About the Boxers: Pacific (4-11, 1-5 NWC) are on a four-game losing streak after dropping both matchups to Whitman 118-90 and Whitworth 94-75 last weekend. The Boxers last win came back on January 4th in their matchup against Lewis & Clark.

Three Boxers are averaging double digits led by Marcus Wallace who averages 18.9 points per game along with Davis Holly and Andy Isokpehi. The Boxers are very tenacious on the defensive end as they have created 208 steals this year.