PORTLAND, Ore. – Junior guard Seth Hall led the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team to its fourth consecutive victory to end the regular season as he poured in 29 points and the Lutes beat Lewis and Clark College 74-66 to continue their momentum into the postseason. 
 
This visitors led 30-27 after the first 20 minutes of action on Saturday night and despite never trailing in the first half, PLU found itself behind by two after Brian Smith laid the ball up and in with 17 minutes remaining.  Hall would not be denied victory though and scored 10 straight points for PLU and Leighton Kingma added a layup and PLU took an eight-point lead and never looked back in Portland. 
 
"The guys are playing with a ton of confidence right now and I never had a doubt that they would eventually string together a few baskets along with a few stops to create the separation we needed," said PLU Head Coach Chad Murray.  "I felt like we started the second half really strong and that set the tone for the rest of the game."
 
The lead swelled to as many as nine points with 6:35 showing when Blake Uyehara assisted on a Conor Geiger three-pointer.  PLU briefly led by double digits with just over two minutes remaining when Kelton Williams made a bucket and allowed the Lutes to cruise into the finish line. 
 
"Conor got a huge three to put us up nine at one point and that was really the point that we felt like the game was in our control," said Murray.  "I thought we did a much better job on Crawford tonight and we really made Smith work hard for his points.  Seth was tonight providing us with scoring on all three levels and Jordan, Leighton, Conor and Luke were really solid defensively."
 
Sophomore Jordan Thomas played all 40 minutes on Saturday and had a solid all-around performance with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.  Kingma added a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards and Williams chipped in 13.  Hall did most of his damage from the free throw line, knocking down 8-of-11, but also hit three three-pointers. 
 
"We are pumped about the opportunity ahead," said Murray.  "We will be ready to give Whitworth all they can handle."
 
The Lutes will travel to Northwest Conference Champion Whitworth University on Thursday for the semifinals of the NWC Tournament.