Puget Sound returned the favor to Pacific Lutheran, coming into Olson Auditorium on Tuesday night and beating the Lutes, 76-60, in Northwest Conference men's basketball action.
The game was a turnaround from the Jan. 2 meeting between the teams when the Lutes took a 78-64 win over the Loggers at Memorial Fieldhouse.
With the win, Puget Sound improves to 7-13 overall and 2-9 in the conference. PLU, meanwhile, suffered its sixth loss in the past seven games and is now 5-15 overall and 3-8 in the NWC.
After spotting Puget Sound an early 8-6 lead, the Lutes tied the game on a Cameron Schilling jumper and went ahead, 10-8, on Cole Parker's basket a little more than five minutes into the game. From that point until the 2:42 mark, Pacific Lutheran held the lead, its largest advantage at 34-28 on Kai Hoyt's layup with 6:17 on the clock.
The Loggers, led by sharp-shooting Derek Jobe, replied with a salvo of threes. First, AJ Maw knocked down a three, and after another Hoyt basket, Jobe drained three consecutive long-range bombs to put Puget Sound ahead 40-36 at the half.
At that point the game was reminiscent of the first meeting between the teams when Jobe went off for 18 first half points. That was where the similarity ended, however, because while Jobe went scoreless in the second half of that game, he doubled his 13 points in the final 20 minutes of this contest.
Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound traded baskets at the outset of the second period, but a 42-38 deficit was as close as the Lutes got the rest of the way. Gabe Borboa hit a mid-range jumper and Jobe nailed another three to make it 47-38, and after Drew Earnest scored for the Lutes, Jobe hit yet another long three to put Puget Sound on top by double digits, 50-40, for the first time.
PLU made one final run, cutting a 15-point hole to eight points with 4:05 showing. Jobe stepped up again, nailing his sixth-and-final three-point basket of the game, effectively shutting the door on the Lutes.
Jobe finished with 26 points on 6-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Rex Holmes added 15 points, four assiss and two steals for the Loggers, who shot 45 percent (27-for-60) overall and 40 percent (8-for-20) from three-point range. Puget Sound also enjoyed a 37-31 rebounding edge, led by Borboa with seven.
For the Lutes, Cameron Schilling scored 19 points, with 15 of those coming in the opening half. Earnest added 12 points and now needs just eight to become the 23rd player in PLU men's basketball history with 1,000 career points. Bryce Miller led PLU with six rebounds.
The Lutes are back in action at 8 p.m. Friday when the Linfield Wildcats come to Olson Auditorium for another Northwest Conference contest.
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