PARKLAND, Wash. – The Whitman College men's basketball team traveled to Pacific Lutheran University Friday night with hopes to avenge January's home loss to the Lutes. They did just that. The Missionaries used a strong second half performance and hot shooting to put PLU away, 82-72 at Olson Gymnasium in Northwest Conference action.
 
It took Whitman a little while to get things figured out as the Lutes dominated the boards early and kept the game close. As the Missionaries started boxing out and preventing PLU from getting to the boards the tables started to turn.
 
"PLU is a very good team with a lot of weapons. It seemed like we couldn't grab a rebound early," Head coach Eric Bridgeland said. "Once we got our feet under us, we buckled down on the boards a little. Peter French played big minutes and Philip Chircu's all-around play was critical tonight."
 
The NWC-leading scorer, Tim Howell used a strong shooting performance and scored a game-high 29 points on 11-19 shooting; he also added five rebounds and two assists to the mix. Austin Butler (12 points) and Montez White were the only other two Whitman players to reach double-digits, while nine rebounds from Evan Martin played a huge factor in helping Whitman polish off the win.
 
The game was tight early with five ties and three lead changes in the first 10 minutes of the contest.  The Missionaries held a 25-24 lead just over midway through the first half using nearly 60 percent shooting to establish the lead. Nine offensive rebounds kept the Lutes close, but at the six minute mark, Whitman forced back-to-back turnovers to extend the lead to five.
 
Whitman finished strong in the final minutes of the half, after PLU closed the gap on the Whits, the Missionaries ran out to an eight point lead entering the break. Howell poured in 13 points in the game's first 20 minutes, Butler added 12. Whitman shot 58 percent from the field in the first half and held the Lutes to just 36 percent.
 
PLU came out of the break and cut the Whitman lead to two points, 45-43. After Howell converted a jumper, the Missionaries used a timeout to regather their composure and stop the 8-2 Lute run. Whitman ran off a 14-7 run after the timeout, but the Lutes came right back, cutting the lead to two with the clocking showing 11:14.
 
The Missionaries kept on running and PLU began struggling to keep pace. Howell took over offensively and Whitman ran their lead to as many as 13. The Lutes went into desperation mode with eight minutes remaining and began to throw three-point attempts toward the hoop, but Whitman's contest of each shot made things difficult on the home team.
 
When asked if January's loss was on the team's mind Bridgeland responded, "The (PLU) came to our place and kicked our butt, but our focus was on growth and playing our best basketball half-to-half. We felt like each of our guys made timely plays that helped us get the win tonight."
 
The Whits will finish up regular season play tomorrow night against the University of Puget Sound at 6 p.m. PST. Whitman has clinched at least second-place in the conference and can move into first if PLU upsets No. 3 Whitworth tomorrow night.