WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Ben Tellez dropped 22 points for the second consecutive game, powering the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team to a 72-66 victory over Northwest Conference rival Whitman College on Friday night to kick off a five-game road trip. 

The visiting Lutes (9-7, 3-4 NWC) held a tenuous two-point lead with under a minute to go before a Caleb Berry three the old fashioned way bumped the PLU lead to five with 37 ticks left. Berry hit a layup and drew the foul, sinking the ensuing free throw to make it 67-62. Berry would be back at the free throw line just seven seconds later, sinking two free throws and adding another just seconds later to make it an eight point gap. PLU's lead would be at least six the rest of the way, holding on for the clutch road win.

The Blues (7-9, 2-5 NWC) scored the opening four points of the game and held the lead for the opening five minutes. A Charlie Kapranos layup with 14:35 left in the first half shifted the lead to the Lutes for the first time. The teams would trade leads before a Henry Smith bucket gave PLU a 16-14 advantage with 10:15 left in the first. The Lutes would never trail the rest of the game, opening up a lead as big as nne and enjoying a 40-34 halftime buffer. 

The lead swelled to 11 on a Smith three with 7:56 left in the game before seeing that gap reduced to just a possession with just over a minute to go.

"I'm really proud of the guys for hanging in there. We were a basket and a stop away from really creating some decent separation but never seemed to be able to do it," said Head Coach Chad Murray.

"Credit to Whitman for continuing to come at us the way they did. Ben hit a handful of big shots but none were bigger than Caleb's three-point play to put us up five at the end. He was really solid all night and so was Charlie."

Tellez led all scorers with 22 points, draining three treys and hitting seven free throws. Kapranos added 16 points and eight rebounds with a team-best four steals. Berry was the third Lute in double figures with 12 points, shooting an efficient four-for-five from the field. 

PLU owned a 30-22 edge in points in the paint and won the turnover battle, turning the ball over eight times to Whitman's 13. 

"We know how difficult it is to win on the east side of the state so we'll enjoy this for a few hours and then move on to Whitworth."

PLU's road swing continues tomorrow evening with a 5 p.m. clash against Whitworth University in Spokane.