SALEM, Ore. - Seth Hall was a one man wrecking crew on Friday night, pouring on a season-high 30 points as the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team manhandled host Willamette University 102-91 inside Cone Field House.

The victory, the Lutes (14-6, 9-2 NWC) fourth straight, puts Pacific Lutheran in a three-way tie atop the Northwest Conference standings after LInfield University edged Whitworth University 71-65 on Friday. PLU, Linfield, and Whitworth all sit with a 9-2 record in NWC play with five games remaining in the regular season.

Trouble was brewing early on Friday night with the host Bearcats (5-13, 2-8 NWC) jumping out to an 11-4 lead just four minutes into the game. Brett Williams drained a three followed by buckets from Hall and Jordan Thomas to tie the score at 11. Willamette would reclaim the lead later in the first, enjoying a 22-18 edge with 11:50 left in the period. The Lutes answered with the next eight points and never looked back. PLU's advantage quickly swelled to double digits, leading 55-45 at the intermission.

PLU led by double digits the entire second half, leading by as many as 22 in route to the win.

"We're really pleased with how we stayed the course tonight," said Head Coach Chad Murray.

"Once we got through their hot start I thought we got into a nice rhythm offensively by just taking what they gave us. At halftime I challenged us to ratchet up our defensive intensity and we did a nice job for the first 10 minutes to allow us to extend the lead. We got into a little trouble later due to some turnovers and quick baskets or free throws by Willamette."

Hall finished with a season-high 30 points, one point shy of matching a career-high, shooting 12-for-18 from the floor and hauling in 12 rebounds. The senior additionally tallied four assists and three blocks to fill out the stat sheet. Jordan Thomas dropped 22 points, hitting 10 of his 13 shot attempts with a game-hogh seven assists in addition to five rebounds. Tyler Ashmore came off the bench and scored 14 while Sam Noland was the fourth Lute in double figures, piling on 13 with six rebounds.

"Jordan was really great getting to the rim and distributing while Seth was his usual steady self. In addition to those two, I thought we got great performances from Sam, Shane, and Tyler."

PLU scorched the nets on Friday, shooting at a 64.5 percent clip (40-for-62), including hitting 60 percent (nine-for-15) of its attempts from three-point range. PLU pounded Willamette inside, owning a 58-36 edge in points in the paint.

The win marked the first time the Lutes topped the century mark since scoring 109 against Northwest Indian College on Dec. 20, 2019.

Pacific Lutheran plays its final road game of the regular season tomorrow afternoon, facing George Fox University at 6 p.m. before closing out the year with four consecutive home games inside Olson Gymnasium.

"We're going to have to reset quickly as we know tomorrow vs. George Fox will be a really tough game."