WALLA WALLA - Whitman converted 19 of its 21 free throw attempts and that proved to be the difference as the Missionaries defeated Pacific Lutheran, 81-68, in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game played Saturday night in Sherwood Center.

Whitman is now 2-0 in the conference and 7-2 overall, while Pacific Lutheran falls to 0-2 in the NWC and 2-7 for the season.

Both teams tallied 27 field goals and the Lutes actually had one more three-point basket, but Whitman took advantage of its chances to out-score PLU 19-5 at the charity stripe. Other than that, the statistics were relatively even. The Lutes shot 48 percent (27-for-56) overall and an amazing 60 percent (9-for-15) from three-point range, compared to 46 percent (27-for-59) from the field and 40 percent (8-for-20) from outside the arc for Whitman.

Pacific Lutheran took the early lead at 8-6 about three minutes into the contest, but Whitman went on top 9-8 on Matt Mounier's three-point basket with 16:51 left in the opening half. The Missionaries never again trailed, though the Lutes hung around for the remainder of the period before going into the halftime break trailing 47-40.

Whitman opened up its first double-digit lead of the game at 53-43 on Ben Eisenhardt's layin with 16:43 remaining in the contest. About halfway through the period Earnest hit a jumper to whittle PLU's deficit to nine points at 63-54, but Peter Clark's long-range three put the Missionaries on top by 12 and their lead stayed in double figures the rest of the way.

Earnest and Daniel Landram both scored 15 points to lead Pacific Lutheran, which also got a team-best eight rebounds from Cameron Schilling.

Mounier tallied a game-high 20 points for Whitman, which also got 19 from Eisenhardt and nine rebounds from Drew Raher. Jackson Clough came off the bench to lead all players with seven assists.

- PLU -