TACOMA, Wash. – The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team had won five consecutive Northwest Conference games, but the Lutes suffered their first loss in three weeks as they dropped Friday night's game 77-66 to Whitman College. 
 
PLU (9-9, 5-4 NWC) was right in the ball game early in the second half as it cut the lead to just three, 36-33, on a long ball from Seth Hall with 17:56 left in the contest. 
 
The Blues, however, took control from there on out, going on a 26-11 run over the next seven minutes to give them their biggest as their lead ballooned to 18.  During the stretch, Whitman hit five straight three-pointers, including three from Andrew Vickers.  The lead continued to grow and the Blues lead by as many as 20 in the second half. 
 
PLU continued to battle down the stretch.  Jacob Bingham hit three consecutive three-pointers with under two minutes remaining and Trey Garey added a layup as the Lutes pulled to within nine in the final minute, but the home team could get no closer. 
 
The Lutes were down just five at the half despite shooting 2-for-16 from beyond the three-point arc, and with senior Leighton Kingma saddled with two early fouls.  Sophomore forward Dylan McConnell played 13 big minutes off the bench.  McConnell scored five points, grabbed six boards and had an assist, a steal and a block. 
 
For the game, PLU shot just 37 percent from the field and were outrebounded by the Blues 52-47.   Whitman got some huge contributions from its bench, as its reserves scored 34 of the team's 77 points.
 
Kingma's nine points put him over 1,000 for his career, becoming just the 27^th player in school history to reach the milestone.  The senior also added nine rebounds in just 17 minutes.  Bingham was the team's leading scorer with 12, while Hall added 10 on a tough shooting night. 
 
PLU looks to get back in the win column and continues its four-game homestand tomorrow night inside Olson Gymnasium when they host Whitworth University at 6:00 p.m.