PORTLAND, Ore. -- Visiting George Fox took a 17-point lead into the locker room before the Lewis & Clark Pioneers fought back to within four in a 77-73 defeat to the Bruins on Friday night at Pamplin Sports Center.

The loss is the first for Lewis & Clark against George Fox since two seasons ago, and the first in Portland since Dec 1, 2012 when the Bruins won 61-56. After opening the Northwest Conference season at No. 2 Whitworth and Whitman, two of the teams that along with the Pios made the conference tournament last year, the Pioneers have an 0-3 conference record for the first time under head coach Dinari Foreman.

"The big difference was a sense of urgency," said senior forward Carl Appleton. "Unfortunately it was brought on by the other team's energy. We got to learn how to create a sense of urgency ourselves, then we won't be down 17, we'll be up by 17."

Lewis & Clark outscored George Fox 46-33 in the second half, getting 12 points from Appleton and 10 from Markel Leonard. Those two finished with 32 of the Pios' 73 points overall. Jonathan Boddie (pictured below right) scored 12 points off the bench to go with 11 points from starter Jason Luhnow.

Thomas Rico led the game with 21 points for George Fox.

The Pioneers scored 17 of the second half's first 22 points to come within five of the lead. Appleton scored back-to-back layups before Leonard made two straight 3-pointers. The latter started a 10-0 Pioneers run to lessen George Fox's lead to 49-44 with 14:25 left in the game.

Cannen Roberson's jumper with 2:59 remaining brought the Pios within four points, 65-61, but George Fox went 10 of 12 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to close out the win.

Lewis & Clark took a season-high 30 free throws in the game, making 20. Lewis & Clark committed 16 turnovers to George Fox's 14 with the Bruins outscoring the Pios 22-11 in points off turnovers.

Appleton said there's one big step this team needs to take to return to the form of last year's conference runner-up.

"Finding an identity and figuring out who it is we are as a team so we can impose our will on the other team," said Appleton. "We scramble really well after we're down, but since we don't have an identity, we can't come into a game and make another team play how we want to have them play."

Lewis & Clark has won all four of its games in which it's led at halftime this season, but is 1-6 when tied or trailing after the first half. The Pios have outscored their opponent in the second half in three of the six losses.

The Pioneers play their next four games on the road starting with Puget Sound tomorrow at 6 p.m. Lewis & Clark returns home on Jan. 23 to host Willamette.

Other Northwest Conference Scores - Friday

Linfield 53, Pacific Lutheran 51
Puget Sound 87, Willamette 54
Whitworth 62, Pacific 50