NEWBERG, Ore. – Facing a George Fox University team needing a win to remain in the hunt for the Northwest Conference Tournament, the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team took the Bruins' best shot and earned a huge 71-65 road victory on Friday night. 
 
"Some of the wins teams get during a season are going to be ugly and a grind," said PLU Head Coach Chad Murray.  "That was a prime example tonight.  We did what we had to do.  We didn't play a really clean game by any stretch, but we defended pretty well and that saved us tonight.  Leighton (Kingma) was great on the glass tonight, and I thought Conor (Geiger) was really tough defensively and had some key baskets down the stretch.  "Seth (Hall) was solid at the line and when you can piece a few stops together and make some free throws you can hold off teams trying to steal a win."
 
Leading by three points at the half, PLU (10-10, 6-5 NWC) grew its lead to a game-high 11 when Conor Geiger made a layup with 10:41 remaining in the contest.  The Bruins, however, responded promptly with an 8-0 run to climb back in the game. 
 
Despite making just one field goal over the final 6:30, the Lutes hung tough and made some clutch free throws down the stretch to thwart the home team's comeback.  George Fox eventually cut the lead down to two with 94 seconds left, but Kelton Williams and Seth Hall hit 5-of-6 free throws to ice the game.  For the game, the charity stripe was critical to PLU's offense as the Lutes sunk 30-of-41, overcoming a tough night from beyond the three-point arc (3-for-16). 
 
Hall made a living on the line for the evening as he drilled 10-for-14 and finished with 17 points.  Williams was also critical to icing the game as he hit 7-of-8 from the line and made his only field goal attempt for nine. 
 
The Lutes' stifling defense in the first half allowed them to head to the locker room with a three-point lead.  PLU held the home team to just 21.1 percent shooting from the floor in the first 20 minutes and dominated the backboard 27-20.  The Bruins' bench kept them afloat as the reserves scored 13 of the team's 27 in the first half, led by Zach Sly's five and Emilio Mancol's six. 
 
PLU continued its impressive defensive work in the second half, limiting George Fox to 27.6 percent shooting from the field and just 6-for-35 from three-point range on the night. 
 
Senior Leighton Kingma carried the PLU attack in the first half as he was the only player to produce more than one field goal.  Kingma had 12 in the first half to go with six rebounds, three blocked shots and a steal.  The senior forward finished with a game-high 23 points on an efficient 8-for-11 shooting effort and pulled down 14 rebounds. 

The Lutes will carry their momentum into tomorrow night's tilt with Linfield College in another critical road test.  Tipoff in McMinnville is slated for 6:00 p.m.