LONGVIEW, TExas — Brandin Riedel and Miles Nash had their best scoring outputs of the season on Thursday afternoon but it wasn't enough to wrangle a win in the Lone Star State with the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team coming up short 89-69 to host LeTourneau University.

Riedel, the reigning Northwest Conference Player of the Week, piled on 19 points for his third straight game in double figures. The senior center was an efficient eight-for-11 from the floor against the Yellowjackets (10-2) while hauling in a team-leading seven rebounds. Nash had a season-high 18 points, dishing out six assists and grabbing five rebounds. 
 
The visiting Lutes (3-4) seized an early lead inside Solheim Arena, first on a Riedel bucket in the opening minute and again on a Julian Brown three with 18:25 left in the opening stanza. Host LeTourneau scored 13 of the next 17 points, installing a seven point gap with 13:37 left in the first half. 
 
A Ben Tellez three cut the lead to just four with 12:32 remaining but three treys from the Yellowjackets made it a double digit gap with just over two minutes later. LeTourneau would lead by as many as 14 in the first 20 minutes, enjoying a 44-33 halftime edge.

Riedel cut the deficit to single digits just seconds into the second half but the Yellowjackets answered with a three to reinstall a double digit lead. A Jason Montes three and a Riedel layup, knifed the gap to just six points with 11:10 remaining but that was as close as PLU would get with the hosts pulling away late to secure their sixth straight victory. 

"LETU has a lot of talent, and had two players— Deonte Jackson and Caedmon Liebengood— that they went to when they needed to get a basket basically whenever they want. Those two were tough to deal with. We couldn't keep them out of the paint or off the glass which is a recipe for disaster," said Head Coach Chad Murray.

"We did feel like we had an advantage offensively with Brandin so we tried to get it to him as much as we could. At times they did a good job of doubling him which gave us some issues. We also really liked what Miles provided today as he tried to make 15 work for everything he got while also trying to provide us with some offense. So it was good to see Miles put it in the basket tonight."
 
Tellez joined Riedel and Nash as the third Lute in double figures, coming off the bench and scoring 15 points. The sharpshooter drained three of his four three-pointers and had five rebounds. 
 
PLU shot a respectable 45.1 percent (23-for-51) from the floor but couldn't match the blistering pace of the Yellowjackets who finished shooting at a 57.8 percent clip (37-for-64), including banging in 60 percent of their shots in the opening half. LeTourneau's success was largely in the paint, enjoying a 52-28 edge in points in the paint and owning a 19-5 edge in second chance points. 

"We'll need to flush this one quickly in order to get ready for another really good test versus Saint Thomas."
 
The Lutes are back inside Solheim Arena tomorrow afternoon, closing out its two-game Texas trip against the University of Saint Thomas.