NEWBERG, Ore. --- It takes a big time player to take a big time shot, and senior Eli Graham did just that Friday night, as George Fox University's men's basketball team beat Pacific Lutheran in the final seconds, 73-72.

The game started like any other, as both teams traded points back and forth for most of the first half. In fact, the lead changed hands eight times and the score was tied just once. The largest lead was held by the Lutes at nine, 38-29, at the 3:39 mark. The Bruins would cut it to five with a minute left, but the Lutes knocked down a trey to go into the half up by eight, 45-37.

George Fox shot lights out from the 3-point line going 9-for-17 with a 52.9 shooting clip.

The second half was full of excitement, and it started early when the Bruins went on a 6-0 run in the first four minutes to bring the game within one, 50-49. The score then bounced back in favor of the Lutes when they pushed their lead back to seven, 63-56. The excitement would start to build when the game clock hit 6:04 when the Bruins brought the game within one for the third time of the half, 63-62.

At the 2:59 mark George Fox got the crowd into it when Johnny Howard hit a huge three to give the Bruins their first lead of the half, 69-68. PLU would respond with a bucket of its own 54 seconds later, but JJ Lacey made a tough nosed layup in the paint to regain the one point lead with 50 seconds on the clock.

Pacific Lutheran found Bryce Miller in the paint, who made a layup to take a 72-71 lead with 16 seconds left.

George Fox would call a timeout to set up the final play.

Coming out of the timeout, the Bruins executed their play perfectly finding Eli Graham just outside the paint. Graham then made a spin move to his right and lifted above his defender for a fade away jumper. The shot was in slow motion as the crowd started to rise to its feet, and moments later cheers and screams filled Miller Gymnasium, as Graham hit nothing but the net to lift the Bruins over the Lutes in the final seconds.

"I knew they were going to double me when I got the ball inside," said Graham. "I just turned the other way and knocked down the fade away. Tonight was an all-around team effort and I couldn't be more proud of how this team responded in the second half. We never backed down and just kept moving the ball getting different guys open. It was a great night."

The Bruins improve to 4-8 on the season and 2-1 in the Northwest Conference. They will travel to Willamette tomorrow afternoon with tip-off at 6:00 p.m.