TACOMA, Wash. — Cal Lutheran men's basketball missed a shot with two seconds left and Puget Sound escaped with a 77-76 win on Friday night.
The game opened the Doug McArthur Classic which is hosted by Puget Sound in Memorial Fieldhouse. The loss has the Kingsmen still searching for their first win of the season.
The contest had 12 ties and 24 lead changes in an epic, back-and-forth battle. Both teams shot well as Cal Lutheran had a field-goal percentage of 54.5 and Puget Sound ended at 47.5.
The teams remained even for most of the game, but the night was decided by turnovers and points off turnovers. The Kingsmen had 13 turnovers, compared to the Loggers eight, but had just one point and Puget Sound had 12.
Nine Kingsmen scored as Devon Lewis led the way with 13. Tommy Griffitts was next with 12 points and Brock Susko added 10. Desi Burrage and Ryan Grande both put up nine, Riley O'Connor and Lojong Andarea Ladu had seven each and Logan McCullough recorded six.
Susko had a team high eight rebounds and Lewis was right behind him with six. Burrage had the most assists with five and the team dished out 16 in total.
The teams exchanged buckets to start the game, before the Loggers took a 15-11 lead with 13:14 left in the first half. Down 31-23, the Kingsmen went on a 5-0 run and cut the lead to one-score. Cal Lutheran came all the way back as Burrage drilled a three-pointer with 38 seconds left in the half.
In the second half, the Loggers built back up their lead and were up 61-54 with 11:15 left in the game. The Kingsmen never backed down and eventually took a 69-68 lead as O'Connor hit a shot with 4:26 left. Cal Lutheran kept the clutch shots coming as Lewis made a layup and Grande added a three-pointer, as their team was up 74-70 with 2:50 to go.
After exchanging baskets over the next few minutes, the Loggers took the lead, 77-76, on a layup with 16 seconds left. Cal Lutheran took a timeout with eight seconds left and drew up a play. The Kingsmen had a chance to win at the buzzer, but a jump shot by Lewis was just off.
The Kingsmen turn right around and are back in action Saturday night. Cal Lutheran and Pacific Lutheran tip-off at 7 p.m.
Box Score: PSU 77, CLU 76
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