PARKLAND, Wash. - Cameron Schilling poured in 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, leading the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes to an 84-72 win over visiting George Fox University and dropping the Bruins into a tie for third place in the Northwest Conference men's basketball standings Friday night here at the Olson Auditorium.
George Fox, although assured of a berth in the upcoming NWC Tournament, fell to 14-10 overall and 9-6 in the conference, while Pacific Lutheran improved to 8-16 overall and 6-9 in the league. George Fox is deadlocked with Lewis & Clark College, which plays at PLU Saturday while the Bruins go to the University of Puget Sound. If the Bruins and Pioneers remained tied, George Fox holds the tiebreaker over L&C by virtue of last week's upset of league-leading Whitworth University. Saturday's games are at 8:00 p.m. following NWC women's games at 6:00 p.m.
A jumper by Sean Atkins and a free throw by Jon Adrian gave the Bruins an early 3-0 lead, but Schilling then went to work, scoring PLU's first eight points, including a pair of three-pointers, as the Lutes took an 8-7 lead with at the 16:42 mark. The Bruins retook the lead for the final time on an Adrian layup that made it 11-10 with 13:45 left in the period, but the Lutes answered with a jumper and two free throws by Bryce Miller and stayed ahead the rest of the game.
The Lutes led by as many as 11 points on four occasions in the opening period, the last at 34-23 on a layup by Schilling with 5:41 to play. The Bruins scored eight in a row, capped by an Atkins three, to close within 34-31 with 2:08 left, but a basket by Arvid Isaksen gave PLU a 36-31 halftime lead.
George Fox closed to within four points at 38-34 on Seth Brent's three-pointer less than a minute into the final period, but that was as close as the visitors got. Kai Hoyt made a baseline drive for a layup to put PLU ahead 54-42 with 13:40 left, and two minutes later Andrew Earnest drained a three to keep the Lutes ahead by a dozen.
The Bruins had one final run, pulling within six points three times, the last at 69-63 on Anthony Sancehz's layup with 3:15 to play, but the Lutes out-scored the Bruins 15-9 to end the game. PLU's largest lead was 80-66 following two free throws by Terrell Williams with 45 seconds remaining.
Sanchez scored 26 points to lead the Bruins, who also got 11 points from A.J. Grant and 10 from Brent. Atkins had nine before fouling out. Spencer Bolte came off the bench to lead the Bruins, who were out-rebounded 42-26, with five rebounds. Atkins, Grant, Sancez and Josh Garlington had two assists apiece.
Schilling shot 9-for-14 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range, and was perfect on all eight of his free throws, and had also had a team-high five assists. Miller scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Earnest ended up with 12 points and five assists, and Isaksen added 12 points. The Lutes turned the ball over just six times to 11 for the Bruins.