TACOMA, Wash. -
Ali Efe Isik delivered a double double with game highs of 30 points and 11 rebounds, but it came in defeat as the Whitman College men's basketball team fell at Pacific Lutheran 84-76 in Northwest Conference action on Friday night.
Alex Pape added 15 points and Isaiah Amato added 14 more for the Blues (8-10, 6-3 NWC) who dropped their third straight after a 6-0 start to the conference season. Both teams turned over the ball 15 times but it was the Lutes (9-9, 6-3 NWC) who scored 11 more points off turnovers than the Blues. Many led to fastbreak points which were 20-6 in PLU's favor.
Miles Nash led PLU with 24 points off the bench to go along with eight rebounds. Nash and the Lutes came alive in the second half where they put 48 points on the scoreboard.
The Blues trailed nearly the entire game but never let it slip away and always remained in striking distance. Whitman led 14-9 in the first half, but PLU ran off nine unanswered points to fall behind by two points with 12:29 to play in the half.
Late in the period, the lead swelled to as many as nine points when Ben Tellez nailed a three pointer to put the Lutes up 34-25 with 2:59 to play. The Blues responded and locked in to close the half. They allowed no field goals and saw Pape nail a three pointer and hit a jumper to make it a two-point game at the break.
The second half saw PLU again extend the lead to nine points, but the Blues came all the way back to tie the game. Whitman trailed 55-46 before Efe Isik scored six points as part of a 12-3 run that leveled the score at 58-58 with 6:38 to play. The tide turned back to PLU, however, who regained the lead and pulled away for the win.
Whitman closes the weekend with a Saturday game at the University of Puget Sound. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m.
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