PARKLAND, Wash. – It wasn't easy, nor would it win many beauty contests, but Whitman College's men's basketball team put the finishing touches on its first 20-win season since 1985-86 with Saturday evening's 88-80 overtime win over host Pacific Lutheran University in Northwest Conference action on the Lutes' Names Family Center court.

The host Lutes (8-17, 6-10 NWC) played up to the level of Whitman (20-5, 14-2) in their last game of the season while the Missionaries will take the hard-earned victory and it's second-place finish in the league standings into the conference's postseason tournament which begins Thursday at home in the Sherwood Athletics Center against third-seed Lewis & Clark College.

Four lead changes during the early minutes of the opening half failed to indicate how the rest of the game would go for the M's. The fourth lead change put Pacific Lutheran ahead, 17-16, where it stayed for quite awhile. The Lutes' advantage grew to 10 late in the half but that deficit was cut in half before the horn when Matt Mounier dropped in a 3-pointer then added a late layup following a Peter French steal.

Whitman finally regained the lead two minutes into the second half but held the advantage for only eight seconds then had to chase down the Lutes the rest of the half.

Pacific Lutheran built its lead, and upset hopes, throughout the half, eventually running out to an 11-point lead, 63-52, with less than eight minutes remaining.

A team that was on a nine-game win streak doesn't fold, though, and Whitman pulled within four points with 32 ticks on the clock. Five seconds later Mounier dropped down another three to make it a one-point game.

A foul put PLU at the free throw line with 13 seconds showing, but it only added the second of the two foul shots to its lead, keeping Whitman within a basket. On the game's final possession Tochi Oti sliced through the lane and lifted a short jumper that trickled off the rim, but he was fouled on the play and calmly found only net on his two free throws to square the game at 74-74.

There were three quick lead changes to start the overtime period but another Mounier trey flipped a two-point deficit into a one-point lead and the M's the proceeded to out score the Lutes 9-2 over the final 2:26 to ice the come-from-behind victory.

The Whitman defense, that had uncharacteristically allowed its opponent to hit 50 percent of its shots during regulation, clamped down in the extra period, limiting the Lutes to just 2-of-10 from the floor. The M's were 3-for-5 (60 percent) from the floor in OT and were a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.

Mounier shared game-high scoring honors with teammate Christian McDonald as each scored 23 points in the victory. Kyle Sawtell paced PLU in the loss with a 21 point, five rebound night.

Thursday's opponent, Lewis & Clark (15-10, 10-6), closed its regular season with a 17-point victory Saturday night. The Pioneers will come up against a Missionaries squad that it lost two twice during the regular season.,