SALEM, Ore. — The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team continues to be a prickly team on the road. The Lutes proved why on Friday evening, erasing an 11-point second half deficit to emerge from Willamette University's Cone Field House with a 76-73 victory over the Bearcats.

"Another nail biter for the Lutes, we're certainly keeping it interesting. Tonight was a tail of two halves on both ends of the floor. I thought we lacked intensity and intention in the first half both in how we guarded and how we attacked their zone," said Head Coach Chad Murray.

"We were indecisive and turned the ball over way too much and then defensively we weren't connected. That all changed in the second half as we responded well to the challenge. We took care of the ball for the most part and defensively I thought we had some more focus and kept the ball in front of us better which led to more contested three point attempts."

The visiting Lutes (6-9, 3-3 NWC) trailed by eight at the halftime intermission, a deficit that would swell to 11 after the Bearcats' Ryder Hsiung drained a jumper on the opening possession of the second half. A pair of buckets from Brandin Riedel reduced the gap to just four with 15:02 remaining in the game.

The Bearcats (6-7, 0-5 NWC) led 54-47 with 14:43 remaining before the Lutes dropped the next nine points to take their first lead of the half. A Julian Brown tip-in ignited the run that saw a Henry Smith trey tie the game before Riedel free throws built a two-point Lute cushion.

PLU would never trail the rest of the way. Dom Perasso drilled a three with 11:31 left to break a 56-56 deadlock. Willamette would battle back and tie the game at 62 and again at 64 with 6:18 remaining but buckets from Emmett Holt, Julian Brown, and Miles Nash made it a six-point spread with just under three to go.

Willamette reduced the gap to one possession with 30 seconds left in the game but the Lute defense stood strong in the waning seconds with a three at the buzzer missing the mark to give PLU the win.

PLU seized an early lead in the first half but the Bearcats used a 12-0 run late in the half to post a double-digit lead and took a 44-36 lead into the intermission.

The victory is PLU's third road win in Northwest Conference play, scoring victories in Spokane against Whitworth University in the league opener while downing crosstown nemesis University of Puget Sound on Tuesday night.

Five Lutes ended the night in double figures with Julian Brown leading the charge with 16 points, shooting seven-for-12 from the floor and grabbing seven rebounds. Ben Tellez and Miles Nash both had a baker's dozen while Brandin Riedel had 12 points and a team-leading eight rebounds. Dom Perasso made the most of his time on the court, netting 10 points in just 14 minutes of action.

PLU dominated the glass, enjoying a 41-28 rebounding edge and a 20-6 advantage in points in the paint.

"It's a big weekend for us next week with Lewis & Clark and Pacific coming to town. Those two teams are great so we'll need to handle ourselves better at home if we want to stay in the mix for the conference tournament."

The Lutes are back inside Olson Gymnasium next Friday, hosting Lewis & Clark College at 6 p.m.