MENS BASKETBALL: Lutes Prepare for Final Home Stand of Season

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran will host Whitman College on Friday at 8 p.m. in the Big O and will then play Whitworth College on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the final home game of the season for the Lutes.

MISSIONARIES TO SETTLE IN THE BIG O: The Lutes will compete against the Whitman Missionaries on Friday for the second time this season. In the teams first match up on Jan. 12, PLU took a 100-96 victory over the Missionaries in Walla Walla. Junior post Jared Brandeberry scored a career high 33 points and junior guard Kurt Oliver added 23 points to help lead the lead the Lutes to victory. Brandeberry made 13 of 17 shots, including four three-pointers. Kyle Born scored 27 points for Whitman in the loss. The Missionaries come into Friday’s game with a 7-14 overall record and a 3-9 Northwest Conference record. The Lutes currently post a 7-12 overall record and a 4-8 NWC record. PLU will have to try to contain Born who leads the conference in scoring with a 19.2 average and is also tops in rebounds at 11.1 a game. Whitman also has the fourth leading scorer in the NWC with Chris Faidley who averages 16.6 a game. The Lutes and the Missionaries first met in 1956 and PLU lead the all-time series 63-27.

NATIONALLY RANKED WHITWORTH COMES TO TOWN: The Whitworth Pirates, who are currently ranked number thirteen on d3hoops.com, come to the Big O to face the Lutes on Saturday. Before the Pirates play PLU, they must face Puget Sound on Friday. Whitworth is currently 19-2 overall and 10-2 in NWC play, with their only two losses coming to the Loggers earlier in the month and to Lewis & Clark on Jan. 27. The Pirates play great team ball and are atop many of the statistic categories in the NWC. Whitworth leads the conference in scoring margin holding their opponents to just 61 points a game and scoring 77.1 points a game. They also lead the NWC with a 53 percent shooting percentage and are holding other teams to a meager 39.8 shooting percentage. The Lutes hung tough with the Pirates in the season’s first match-up but Whitworth pulled away in the second half for an 80-56 win. Josh Dressler led the Lutes with 19 points and Brandeberry added 10 points and five rebounds in the Lutes loss. Ryan Symes scored 23 points for the Pirates and Kevin Hasenfus contributed 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the victorious Pirates. The Lutes will have to try and bypass the sticky Pirate defense in pursuit of a win.

LAST WEEK: The Lutes dropped two close ones to UPS and Lewis & Clark in Northwest Conference action. On Tuesday, Jan. 30 PLU couldn’t sustain a Logger comeback as the Lutes dropped an 89-86 game in Memorial Fieldhouse. PLU led by as much as 11 points on two occasions in the first half, the second coming on a dunk by Scott McDaniels to make the score 35-24 with 7:44 remaining in the period. Puget Sound was able to whittle away at the lead, but the Lutes still carried a 43-41 advantage at the intermission. In the second half the Loggers outscored the Lutes, 23-5, over the final 6:42 of the game to steal the game from PLU. McDaniels continued his impressive play of late with a career-high 31 points and 11 rebounds. Lawrence Brooks also had a career-high for PLU with 16 points. On Saturday the Lutes tried to rebound from the tough loss to UPS but couldn’t complete the comeback against Lewis & Clark as they fell 59-55. The Pioneers extended a 25-18 halftime lead to a 12-point advantage, 32-20, on David Berggren’s three-point field goal just minutes into the second half. The Pio’s still led by nine points, 51-42, on a pair of free throws by Jeff Christensen with 4:12 remaining in the game. The Lutes battled back with a 13-5 run, highlighted by a trio of three-point baskets by Brooks. The final of the treys pulled the Lutes to within a point, 56-55, with 39.6 seconds showing on the clock. Lewis & Clark held the ball for the remaining seconds and finished the Lutes with a three-ball from the corner pocket.

LUTES NOT HITTING THEIR TARGET: Pacific Lutheran had their best shooting performance of the season on Jan. 30 against UPS shooting 61.3 percent but followed it up with poor execution against Lewis & Clark with a 42.9 percent average. For the season the Lutes are shooting 42.2 percent while their opponents are shooting 49.5 percent.

McDANIELS HONORED: For the third week in a row, Scott McDaniels was chosen as a Northwest Conference honorable mention player of the week. Against UPS, McDaniels dropped in a career high 31 points, including an impressive one-handed dunk, and also grabbed 11 rebounds. On Saturday against the Pioneers, McDaniels scored 17 points and snagged 11 more rebounds. For the season McDaniels is averaging 11.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.2 blocked shots a game for the Lutes.

PLU TO HONOR SIX LUTE SENIORS: On Saturday, six seniors will be honored for their contribution to the men’s basketball program. Andy Pederson, Lawrence Brooks, Josh Vanlandingham, Kurt Oliver, Brian Misterek, and Andrew Eisentrout will be recognized during the intermission period between the women’s and men’s basketball games.

FOLLOW THE LUTES ON THE AIR: Follow the PLU basketball action this weekend by listening to games on KLAY 1180 AM. The broadcasts will also be on the worldwide web at www.klay1180.com and the PLU Athletics website at www.plu.edu/athletics . PLU is proud to have Hall of Fame sports broadcaster Bob Robertson calling Lute women’s and men’s basketball contests.

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