Box Score TACOMA, Wash. – Playing an NCAA Division III member from the Northwest Conference on the road for the second straight game, the Multnomah University Lions found similar results as they dropped a 78-66 decision to the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes in men's basketball Tuesday night here at Olson Gym.
 
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with five ties and 10 lead changes.  PLU had seven-point leads on three occasions, the last at 17-10 after a layup by Joshua Baird.  The Lions roared back to tie it 17-17 on baskets by Jon Viles and DJ Ahana and a three-pointer by Max Upchurch, and eventually took a three-point lead of 29-26 on a layup by Trey Fountain with 5:43 to go in the half.  A free throw by the Lutes' Sean McLaughlin with 28 seconds left gave PLU a 35-34 lead at the break.
 
The first five minutes of the second half saw one more tie and four lead changes before PLU went ahead for good.  Multnomah was up 43-41 following a three by Ben Grandle – and then the Lions went ice-cold, missing their next eight shots, seven of them threes, as the Lutes went ahead 48-43.  Viles ended the streak with a layup to make it 48-45 with 12:21 left, but that was as close as the Lion would get.  The PLU lead finally reached double figures on a pair of Baird free throws with 7:42 to go, and the teams did little more than swap points thereafter.
 
--- By the Numbers:  Fountain led the Lions with 18 points, followed by Brett Blackstock with 15 and Ahana with 10.  Fountain and Darius Redrick had six rebounds apiece, and Fountain handed out three assists.  Multnomah finished with a .333 (23-69) shooting percentage for the game, including .146 (6-41) from three-point range.  Despite the game's fast pace, the Lions made only four turnovers to 16 for the hosts.
 
Pacific Lutheran got 17 points from Baird, 15 from Leighton Kingma, and 14 points and 11 boards from Zac Webb.  Baird also passed out five assists.  The Lutes held a dominating 61-35 advantage on the glass while shooting .423 (30-71) from the field. 
Multnomah, which fell 101-88 at Pacific (Ore.) in its last game on Saturday, is now 2-5 on the season, while Pacific Lutheran improved to 3-2.
 
--- Next: Multnomah plays Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Portland, an NCAA Division I team.  The game will count for Portland but will be an exhibition for the Lions … Pacific Lutheran hosts Whitman College Friday at 8:00 p.m. in its NWC lidlifter.