TACOMA, Wash. — Another night in the Northwest Conference and another nail-biter for the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team. Oscillating between being up nine and trailing by as many as five, the Lutes found themselves in a one possession game with under a minute to go against Lewis & Clark College on Friday night before pulling out the 71-67 victory to extend their win streak to three.
Miles Nash provided a huge spark for the Lutes (7-9, 4-3 NWC) off the bench, pouring in 19 points in just 23 minutes of action, shooting six-for-eight from the floor in a showdown inside Olson Gymnasium that featured eight lead changes and five ties.
The homestanding Lutes trailed 62-61 with 4:06 left in the game before getting a pair of free throws from
Brandin Riedel. A
Miles Nash layup followed by a Riedel tip-in bucket made it a five-point spread in favor of PLU with 1:48 remaining. A Pioneer three made it a one possession contest with 86 ticks left but a pair of Nash free throws and free throws from
Ben Tellez were enough to hold off Lewis & Clark (8-8, 4-3 NWC), giving PLU its third consecutive win while it was the sixth league game this winter that has gone down to the wire.
"We're certainly interesting to watch. This one came down to rebounding and limiting our turnovers. We did a fantastic job on the glass in the second half and down the stretch as we were the ones to secure the big offensive rebound that led to us winning the game," said Head Coach
Chad Murray.
Tied at the halftime break, the Pioneers installed a five point lead at 44-39 with 14:33 remaining in the game. Pacific Lutheran responded with the next 12 points, part of a larger 17-3 spurt to install a nine-point lead off a
Henry Smith trey with 9:30 remaining. The Lute lead was seven with 6:25 to go but the Pioneers had one last surge in them, taking the lead after scoring nine of the next 10 points.
Nash led all scorers with 19, hitting seven of his eight free throws and dishing a game-high four assists.
Ben Tellez added 10 points while
Emmett Holt had nine, including a team-high seven rebounds.
"Miles had a nice night finding ways to get into the paint while also focusing hard on distributing the ball. We're getting some great contributions from a lot of different people. The guys are learning a lot about handling adversity and the endurance needed to keep fighting through it."
It was a sluggish start for both teams to open the night, taking nearly four minutes before Holt hit a trey for the game's opening bucket. That basket helped PLU stake an early 10-4 advantage with 12:30 remaining in the opening stanza. A Pioneer three whittled the gap to just a single point before the Lutes scored the next eight points— getting threes from both
Ben Tellez and
Charlie Kapranos— to install a nine-point lead.
Lewis & Clark battled back, tying the game first at 26-26 before taking a brief lead with 42 seconds remaining.
Miles Nash hit a pair of free throws with 24 ticks left as the two squads entered halftime deadlocked at 32.
PLU dominated the glass with a 29-20 rebounding advantage, leading to a 14-4 edge in second chance points. Lewis & Clark outshot the Lutes, shooting at a 50 percent clip (28-for-56) while protecting the ball, committing just six turnovers all night.
"It's another really tough one tomorrow with Pacific. They will present some really interesting challenges that we'll need to work through just like tonight."
The Lutes are back on the hardwood tomorrow evening, hosting Pacific University at 4 p.m. inside Olson Gymnasium.
