Box Score PARKLAND, Wash.—Despite never trailing, the Puget Sound men's basketball squad found themselves in a tight contest for all 40 minutes Tuesday night at Pacific Lutheran. The Loggers prevailed, however, after hitting enough final-minute free throws to hold on for a 61-57 win at Names Family Court in Parkland, Wash.
The visiting Loggers led for 39:28, taking the lead just 32 seconds in after a layup by Erin Barber. Barber finished off a play started by AJ Maw, who stole the ball from PLU's Terrell Williams and found Barber for the open layup.
The Puget Sound defense started the game very strong, holding Pacific Lutheran scoreless for the game's first 4:56. The guests forced four missed shots and grabbed defensive rebounds on each of them before the Lutes could manage one bucket, a three-pointer from PLU's Brandon Lester.
Puget Sound took its first 10-point lead with 10:12 left in the first half after Matt Reid drained a three-pointer to go up 17-7. The Lutes trimmed that lead to seven, but Barber added another three-pointer to put the lead back at 10 with 9:36 left. They again took a 10-point lead with 3:27 remaining in the half thanks to another three-point play from Barber, albeit this one of the traditional variety. The Lutes closed down in the period's final minutes, however, and Puget Sound took a 29-23 lead into the break.
Coming out of halftime, the Logger lead hovered around six points for the first 10 minutes of the second half. With 9:52 remaining in regulation, PLU's Billy Kiel hit a three-pointer to pull the hosts within three points. They came within one after another three point shot at the 9:17 mark, but Rex Nelson responded with a layup to give the Loggers a bit more breathing room.
Another Lute layup brought the Logger lead back down to one point at 48-47, but a layup by Nick Holden and two by Maw gave the Loggers a seven-point lead again. Pacific Lutheran didn't give up however, and cut the lead to three again with just under four minutes remaining in regulation. The Lutes came even closer with two minutes left to play in the period when they came within two.
With 21 seconds remaining, however, the Logger defense forced a missed Lute layup on a key possession and Nelson came up with the defensive board. After getting fouled to stop the clock, he hit both free throws to give the Loggers a 58-54 advantage. The hosts came up with a three-ball with just six seconds remaining, but Puget Sound hit three free-throws in the final eight seconds as well to clinch the road victory.
Barber led the Loggers with 13 points, getting six of them on free throws. He also grabbed 10 rebounds to tally his first career double-double. Nelson added 12, 10 in the second half alone, and Dan Cheledinas scored 10 points, eight of which came in the first.
The Loggers outshot the Lutes 38.3% to 32.3% from field goal range, but Pacific Lutheran nailed six three-pointers for a 27.3% clip from beyond the arc as opposed to three three-pointers and a 25.0% percentage for the Loggers. The Loggers reached the charity stripe 29 times in the game, however, making 22 freebie attempts for a 75.9% mark from the line. They've now shot at least 75.0% from the free throw line eight times this season. Also, the Puget Sound defense saw its 14th game of the season during which it held opponents under a 40.0% field goal percentage. They entered today's game ranked 27th in the nation in defensive field goal percentage, holding opponents to just 39.5% from the floor.
With the victory, Puget Sound (12-10, 8-5 NWC) climbs into third place in the Northwest Conference standings, one full game ahead of both George Fox and Lewis & Clark, who are tied for fourth at 6-5 in the conference. The Loggers need two more wins in their final three conference games to guarantee themselves a spot in the Northwest Conference tournament and a shot to play for the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III tournament. They will try for one of those wins on Saturday, Feb. 15, when they travel to Willamette for their final road contest of the regular season. That game will tip off at 8:00 p.m. at Gordie James Court in Salem, Ore.
