Tacoma, Wash. – For the second night in a row, junior Nikko Echalas hit a buzzer-beating shot, to lift Lewis & Clark College over host Pacific Lutheran University in a 69-68 Northwest Conference thriller that included 11 lead changes and eight ties Saturday night.
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 69, Pacific Lutheran 68
(Lewis & Clark 9-6, 3-3 NWC)
(Pacific Lutheran 7-8, 1-5 NWC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pios went on a seven-point run to take a 7-3 lead three minutes into the game, and they extended the lead to 12-6 before the Lutes tied it at 14 with 12:51 left in the first half. Pacific Lutheran took the lead two minutes later and kept it for the rest of the half but never led by more than seven. Seniors Brenden Patrick and Jack Henderson led the scoring for the Pioneers in the first half with ten and eight points, respectively.
 
At the 11:06 mark in the second half, Henderson hit a three to tie the game at 47. Henderson then scored his 700^th career point with 8:51 left and gave the Pioneers a 53-48 lead. Lewis & Clark took their largest lead of the game at 57-50 on a Patrick layup.
 
Senior Grant Stewart notched his first double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) of the season and second of his career against the Lutes. Stewart hit a jump shot with 2:36 left in the game to score and tie the game at 63. He pulled down a key defensive rebound with 52 seconds left on a Lutes missed jumper.
 
Patrick penetrated the Pacific Lutheran defense and hit a fadeaway jumper in the paint to give the Pios a 67-65 lead. Lutes junior Sam Noland hit a three from the wing with 12.6 seconds left to go up 68-67. After a Lutes timeout, Echalas raced down the court and passed the ball to Patrick at the top of the key. Patrick drove in for a layup that bounced off the front of the rim. Stewart pulled down the offensive rebound and put up a turnaround jumper that hit the front of the rim. The ball bounced into the hands of a leaping Echalas, whose acrobatic shot while still in the hair bounced around the rim and fell after the buzzer sounded.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Patrick finished with a game-high 26 points and has 957 career points.
• Echalas finished with 11 points, three assists, and two rebounds. He went 5-5 from the charity stripe.
• Henderson pulled down seven rebounds and hit all three of the Pios baskets from downtown.
• The win snapped a six-game losing streak against the Lutes for the Pioneers.
• This marks the first time the Pioneers have swept Linfield and PLU in back-to-back games; the two teams have been travel partners for the most part since the 2015-16 season when L&C defeated the two teams on January 12 and 15.

WHO'S NEXT
The Pios will look to win their third consecutive NWC game when they travel to Puget Sound on Friday for an 8 p.m. tip. Puget Sound (4-2) is currently one game ahead of the Pioneers in the conference standings, with the Loggers sitting in a tie for third and the Pioneers in fifth.