PORTLAND, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College men's basketball held a five-point lead with two minutes left in the game, but LeTourneau University used an 8-1 to close out the game and escape Pamplin Sports Center with a 68-66 non-conference win in the first meeting between the two programs.  
 
THE BASICS
 
LeTourneau 68, Lewis & Clark 66
(Lewis & Clark 1-2)
(LeTourneau 3-0)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Sophomore Kody Uyesugi exploded for 17 points in the final 11 minutes of the game, hitting five shots from long range to finish with an NCAA career-high 19 points to lead the Pioneers.
 
Junior Isaac Ticeson was a perfect 8-8 from the field for 16 points and finished with eight rebounds and three assists, both tied for team-highs.
 
Ticeson gave Lewis & Clark a 14-10 lead with an offensive rebound and putback six minutes into the game. LeTourneau responded with a 13-2 run to take their first of two seven-point leads in the first half, going up 23-16 at the 10-minute mark.  Junior Ryan Trunkett pulled the Pioneers within 25-22 with a three off an assist from fellow junior Nate Berg with seven to go in the half.
 
LETU pushed the lead back out to 29-22 two minutes later, but Uyesugi hit two free throws to start a 6-0 Pioneer run. Berg blocked Caedmon Liebengood with just over four to go in the first half. Ticeson grabbed the rebound off the block and seconds later sophomore Taien Jackson found Ticeson in the paint for a two-handed dunk to pull the Pioneers within 29-28.  
 
Coming out of a Lewis & Clark timeout, Ticeson picked off LeTourneau and found Berg in the paint to go up 30-29. With 30 seconds before the half, Ticeson grabbed an offensive board and put the Pioneers up 32-31 with the putback.
 
The YellowJackets started the second half with a 10-point scoring run to take their largest lead of the game, 41-32 at the 16:33 mark. Junior Griffin Datcher IV grabbed the sixth of his team-high eight rebounds, then found fellow junior Mikey Medlock Jr. for a three that started an eight-point run. Junior Sam Henderson hit the second of two free throws, then hit a jumper outside the paint at the end of the run to pull Lewis & Clark within 41-40.
 
Uyesugi hit his first two three-pointers of the game on back-to-back possessions to pull the Pioneers within 48-46. Medlock Jr. then intercepted a YellowJacket pass. His missed three-point attempt was rebounded by junior Sebastian DePrez, who put the ball in the hoop to tie the game at 48.
 
Down 53-50 with seven minutes to go in the game, Lewis & Clark went on a seven-point run that ended with Uyesugi finding Medlock Jr. for a layup with 5:23 to go. After a LeTourneau layup, Uyesugi hit his fourth three of the game to give the Pioneers a 60-55 lead, then notched two consecutive steals from the Yellowjackets. Coming out of the final media timeout, Ticeson hit a layup to give the Pios their largest lead of the game, 62-55, with 3:50 to go.
 
Uyesugi hit his final three of the game to give the Pioneers a 65-60 lead at the two-minute mark, but the YellowJackets tied the game at 65 a minute later. Datcher IV hit the second of two free throws with 30 seconds left in the game to go up 66-65. LETU's Jackson Mayes hit a jumper in the paint with 22 seconds left for two of his game-high 22 points to go up 67-66. Lewis & Clark was forced to foul but still had three to give to put the LeTourneau in the bonus. Branson Lynn hit the first of two for LETU with four seconds left, but the Pioneers were unable to get a shot off before the final horn off the defensive rebound from junior Khalil Glover-Dodson.   
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Ticeson and Datcher IV finished with eight rebounds each, Uyesugi was second on the team with five boards.
• Jackson, Berg, and Ticeson led the team with three assists apiece.
• Henderson (eight points), Medlock Jr. (seven points), and Jackson (six points) finished 3-5 in scoring against LETU.
• The Pioneers won the battle of the boards 34-24 and had 17 second chance points to LETU's eight.  

WHO'S NEXT
 
Lewis & Clark hosts UC Santa Cruz, Warner Pacific University, and Northwest Conference foe Pacific Lutheran University, next weekend for the Lewis & Clark Thanksgiving Classic. The Pioneers will take on UC Santa Cruz at 1 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the Lutes versus the Knights at 3 p.m.