WALLA WALLA, Wash. – A few minutes of early back-and-forth action evolved into a dominating 36-point win for Whitman College Friday night as the Missionaries rolled over visiting Pacific Lutheran University, downing the Lutes by a 79-43 score in a Northwest Conference men's basketball contest at the Sherwood Athletics Center.

Jackson Clough paced all scorers with 15 points for the Missionaries (11-5, 5-2 NWC) in their victory over Pacific Lutheran (5-10, 3-3) but it was Cheney Doane who electrified the crowd over the final minutes with long-range bombs, scoring all of Whitman's points in the final three minutes.

The Lutes broke out of the gate as if the rest of the night would force a tooth-and-nail battle from the M's, but an 13-0 run after five lead changes established a gap between the teams that the visitors simply weren't able to chip into.

Christian McDonald's layup inched Whitman to within a point, 12-11, and a Lutes turnover -- one of 24 on the night -- led to a Clough 3-pointer for the sixth and final lead change of the evening. Clough followed with a layup after another PLU turnover and Evan Martin dropped in a put-back off a Rolaun Dunham miss to keep the string rolling. Another Clough trey added to the run which was finished with a 1-of-2 appearance at the free-throw line by JoJo Wiggins.

The Lutes finally put an end to the Whitman streak, but the die had been cast as the M's maintained their double-digit advantage into a 40-28 lead at the intermission.

Second-half action was a bit like three or four steps forward, one step back. Whitman steadily increased its lead over the final 20 minutes, scoring three or four points to every one basket the Lutes -- who were limited to shooting just 22 percent from the floor in the half -- could muster.

The game's result was determined long before the final minutes, but the vocal home crowd of more than 300 went full throat with Doane's first 3-pointer of the night, coming just after the three-minute mark. Not long after the first bomb came a second one, then a third one, lifting the crowd into seemingly impossible frenzy. Doane helped the crowd blow the roof off the Sherwood Center with a fourth consecutive three in the game's final moments.

It was a fitting end to a dominating performance from head coach Eric Bridgeland's bench that saw four players -- Clough, Doane (12 points), ,Matt Mounier (11) and Martin (10) -- reach double figures, while six other players scored at least a point. Martin led all players on the glass with an eight-rebound night

Eleven Whitman steals and 24 PLU turnovers turned into 27 points in the victory.

The M's welcome the University of Puget Sound to Sherwood on Saturday for a 6 p.m. Northwest Conference tip off.