PORTLAND, Ore. -- With a 79-77 lead, Lewis & Clark nearly stole possession from the visiting Saint John's Johnnies twice before Alex Schmitt nailed a 3-pointer with no time remaining to knock off the Pioneers 80-79 at Pamplin Sports Center on Friday night.

After Cannen Roberson's shot put the Pioneers up by two with under 40 seconds left in regulation, Jason Luhnow ran toward the baseline and stole the ball, but tossed it into backcourt before he went out of bounds. Possession went back to the Johnnies with 20 seconds remaining before Markel Leonard almost took the ball again, unable to corral it in-front of the Saint John's bench with seven seconds left.

On the Johnnies' third chance, Schmitt came open on the right wing and hit a 3-pointer to win the game for Saint John's (3-0). Schmitt finished with a game-high 26 points with four 3-pointers.

Neither team led by more than three points the entire second half. The largest leads of the game, seven points by Lewis & Clark and five by SJU, both occurred in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Following an early 8-0 run by the Pioneers, Saint John's used back-to-back threes by Patrick Strom and Schmitt moved the Johnnies back up 52-51. Those two struck again from long distance, but Lewis & Clark answered with lay-ins by Jonathan Boddie and Leonard to keep the game a single possession, 60-57, with SJU on top.

Later in the half, the Pios strung together another run, 6-0, before Leonard made a 3-pointer with 1:20 remaining to tie it at 77-77, the seventh tie of the game.

Roberson finished with 24 points to lead the Pioneers, followed by 17 points from Boddie. Both were season highs. Lewis & Clark (2-3) had four players in double digits, as Luhnow scored 13 points and Leonard ended with 10 points.

Cory Coombe added six points, Mat Collins put in four points, while Kyle Owens had a first quarter 3-pointer and Kupa'a Harrison scored two in the third quarter.

Mitchell Kuck scored 18 points and Tyler Weiss had 14 points to help the Johnnies.

Both teams shot around 50 percent in the first nine minutes, with Saint John's getting many opportunites through transition, while Lewis & Clark hit more from 3-point range. The Pios hit 5 of their first 10 3-pointers, while SJU went 2 of 5. That evened out by halftime, with both teams making 43 percent.

Using a 12-0 run in less than a three-minute span, Lewis & Clark built a lead, maintaining a small margin for the majority of the first half. The Johnnies missed several opportunities to tie or take the lead with free throws or a basket until Jordan Peterson scored with 1:27 left to tie the game at 34-34.

Coombe answered quickly for the Pios, nailing a 3-pointer from the left side of the key to put Lewis & Clark back up 37-34.

After Weiss made a lay-up to bring the Johnnies within one, Schmitt put in a 3-pointer to end the half, giving Saint John's a 39-37 edge at the break.

Saint John's finished the half at 61 percent shooting, ultimately ending the game at 59 percent, a new season high. The Pios finished 44 percent from the field.

Lewis & Clark opens Northwest Conference play on Dec. 4 against Whitworth. The two met in last year's conference championship game with Whitworth winning 69-58.

Other Northwest Conference Scores - Friday

Whitman 77, UC-Santa Cruz 63
Puget Sound 105, Trinity (Tex.) 99 (2OT)