PARKLAND, Wash. – The Linfield men's basketball team fell 81-80 at the hands of the Pacific Lutheran Lutes (11-10, 5-7) Saturday night in Olson Gymnasium.
 
Although both teams shot the ball well all game, the Wildcats (9-12, 6-6) found themselves down 13 at halftime, by as much as 16 in the second half and by 10 with 4:08 remaining and had to put together a furious comeback late in the game.
 
After battling back with a 17-4 run over the final 6:48, Linfield trailed by just two with 35 second remaining when Carson Bonine put the Wildcats up 80-79 with a corner three-pointer off a Trey Bryant assist on an out-of-timeout inbounds play. It was Linfield's first lead of the game since the score had been 2-0.
 
On the other end Linfield played the numbers and forced the Lutes to move the ball to forward Brandon Riedel before the Wildcats fouled Riedel, who had missed a pair of free throws earlier in the night, sending him to the line for a one-and-one opportunity.
 
But Riedel hit both, setting the score at 81-80. With Linfield in possession for the final seconds Bryant drove inside to try and score the go-ahead basket but missed, with Alex Jaczko following on the offensive rebound. Neither attempt connected and despite plenty of contact on both shots, neither led to a foul.

"Tough way to finish having made such a great comeback," said head coach Shanan Rosenberg. "I thought our second half performance was significantly better than the first. I was proud of how we fought to give ourselves a chance and take the lead down to the wire."
 
Both teams shot exactly 31 for 62 from the field in the game, with the Wildcats edging out the Lutes 48.6 percent to 43.3 percent in the second half.
 
Linfield shot 11 for 22 from three for an even 50 percent, their second highest percentage from three in a game this season, and went 8 for 15 in the second half. The 'Cats held Pacific Lutheran to just 7 for 26 from three for the game and 0 for 8 in the second half.
 
The Wildcats also won the rebound battle 32 to 28, with 11 offensive rebounds leading to 15 second chance points.
 
Bonine led Linfield in scoring with 17 points on 6 for 13 shooting and five made threes along with six rebounds.
 
Bryant finished with 10 points to go with 10 assists for his fourth double-double this season and third straight in as many games. He also pulled down four rebounds.
 
Jackzo was the only other Wildcat in double-figures with 10 points to go with four rebounds and four assists.

"Trey Bryant's 10 assists really stood out to me tonight, he did a great job of finding teammates," said Rosenberg. "Josh Puccinelli and Jake Downing also gave us a nice spark off the bench."
 
NEXT
The Wildcats will head back to the Tacoma-area next Friday, Feb. 10 to play the Puget Sound Loggers (15-6, 8-4) in Memorial Fieldhouse, before returning Saturday to host the Lewis and Clark Pioneers (12-9, 6-6) on Senior Day.
 
They'll then wrap up the regular season the following weekend with a trip to eastern Washington to take on the Whitworth Pirates (14-7, 9-3) on Feb. 17 before visiting the Whitman Blues (17-4, 10-2) on Feb. 18. Read Full Article