TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team will make a trek down to Oregon to try to clinch the final playoff spot during the last weekend of conference play. The Lutes will take on Pacific University and Lewis & Clark college needing only one win to clinch a playoff berth.

The Lutes were able to come away with a gritty win last Saturday on Senior Night against Willamette University. The Lutes honored their four seniors before the game and it took them a little time to find their rhythm. The Lutes went into the locker room at halftime down by six, but came out blazing in the second half to win by a final score of 90-75. Junior Seth Hall led all scorers with 26 and seniors Conor Geiger, Jacob Bingham, and Leighton Kingma all contributed double digits as well.

Seth Hall, a junior transfer from Lower Columbia College has fit in nicely in his first year in a Lute uniform. "The group of guys on this team have been super welcoming to me, it doesn't really feel like I'm the new guy anymore. My values have lined up with the teams, we all want to win and we've become a cohesive unit" said Hall.

The Lutes know that this is a big weekend for them, Hall knows that, "We know that we can't come out slow in either game this weekend like we did against Willamette. That second half of last Saturday's game is what we know we're capable of. We came out in the second half and played aggressive and confident so we're going to try and replicate that this weekend against Pacific and Lewis and Clark."

The last time the Lutes met up with Pacific there was some post-game drama and the Lutes know that the Boxers will be looking for revenge on their home floor and Lewis & Clark is fighting for the last playoff spot as well so they will be coming out firing on Saturday. This is the spot where the Lutes want to be and as Seth Hall said, "It's time to take care of business."
Action this weekend will start at 8 p.m. on Friday night against Pacific and continue at 6 p.m. on Saturday against Lewis & Clark.

Feb. 22: PLU @ Pacific inside Stoller Center (8 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Boxers rivalry goes back to the 1939-1940 season with PLU owning an 86-41 overall record against Pacific. The Lutes had lost the previous four matchups with the Boxers before beating them inside Olson Gymnasium on January 25^th. In that game Davis Holly of Pacific led all scorers with 43 points, but Leighton Kingma's 26 points and Jordan Thomas' 25 points allowed to Lutes to come away with a thrilling 97-96 victory.

About the Boxers: Pacific (6-17, 3-11 NWC) are on a three-game losing streak and have only won one of their last seven games. Last weekend the Boxers fell to Whitworth by 13 and to Whitman by three. The Boxers will be looking to get revenge on the Lutes and spoil their playoff hopes.
Marcus Wallace is the leading scorer for the Boxers averaging 18.6 points per game. Davis Holly is not far behind averaging 17.4 points per game and Nick Drynan and Andy Isokpehi round out the boxers who are scoring more than 10 points per game. Pacific is averaging over 95 points a game on the season so far but have been giving up over 100.

Feb. 23: PLU @ Lewis & Clark inside Pamplin Sports Center (6 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Pioneers rivalry goes back to the 1938-1939 season with the Lutes leading the series 71-59. The Lutes have prevailed in the previous three matchups including a tight finish earlier this season. PLU has beaten the Pioneers at home by a score of 88-83 on January 24^th and were led by Leighton Kingma and Seth Hall who combined for 48 points.

About the Pioneers: Lewis & Clark (10-13, 6-8 NWC) is coming off a split weekend where they picked up a much-needed overtime win over the University of Puget Sound before losing to Linfield College by 30 last Saturday. The Pioneers currently sit in 5^th in the conference standings and will need two wins along with two Lute losses to overtake them for the final playoff spot.
Zeke Crawford and Brian Smith have shared the load equally for the Pioneers as they each have averaged 14.3 points per game this season to lead the team. The Pioneers also dish out 14 assists per game.