MEN’S BASKBETBALL: Lutes Open Season with Tournament Title

THIS WEEK: Evergreen State (3-1) hosts Pacific Lutheran (2-0) Tuesday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

LAST WEEK: The Lutes won the Northwest Lutheran Invitational Tournament championship, defeating Augsburg and Concordia-Portland to earn the title.

AUGSBURG CONTEST: Scott McDaniels and Josh Dressler both scored 30 points as Pacific Lutheran opened its 2007-08 men's basketball season with an 84-73 victory over Augsburg. The Auggies took an early 7-2 lead three minutes into the game on a pair of Nate Alm free throws, but Dressler, a junior wing, found the shooting touch for the Lutes in the first half. He scored 18 first-half points in helping the Lutes build a 44-36 lead at the break. Dressler hit a three-point field goal to give the Lutes their first lead, 17-16, halfway through the period. He added another trey with 1:30 remaining in the half to give PLU a 43-30 advantage. Augsburg whittled its deficit to 47-46 on a lay-up by Femi Solaja at 15:15 of the second period, but Dressler and McDaniels each hit back-to-back baskets to put the Lutes ahead by nine. Again the Auggies responded, eventually pulling to within two points, 67-65, on a Solaja free throw with 5:10 to play. PLU finally put the game away with a 10-0 run, highlighted by a pair of Kevin Englund baskets, over the next four minutes. McDaniels, a senior post, scored 16 of his points in the second half and also grabbed nine rebounds as the Lutes won that battle, 49-42. PLU senior point guard Landon Heidenreich scored all 11 of his points at the foul line, making 11-of-14, and he contributed eight assists. As a team, the Lutes shot the ball poorly, making 41 percent of their field goal attempts and hitting just 25-of-42, or 60 percent, from the charity stripe.

CONCORDIA CONTEST: Scott McDaniels scored 23 points, including the game-winning basket with eight seconds remaining in overtime, to give Pacific Lutheran a 79-77 victory Saturday over Concordia (Ore.). PLU led by as much as eight points in the first half, but Concordia closed the period with a 10-1 run to take a 37-33 halftime edge. At that point, McDaniels led the Lutes with 10 points and five rebounds. Pacific Lutheran got right back in the game and seemed to be on the way to a win in regulation when Dressler hit a lay-up to give the Lutes a 68-63 advantage with 49 seconds remaining. Cody Aker came to the home team's rescue, however, scoring five points - including the game-tying three-point basket with two seconds remaining - to tie the game at 68-68. The Lutes took the lead during the overtime on another Dressler lay-up, and they led by at least three points until the Cavaliers hit four straight free throws to take a 74-73 lead. The teams traded points until Aker hit the first of two foul shots to tie the game at 77 with 26 seconds remaining in the overtime. Gregory Bogdan grabbed the defensive rebound following the miss and the Lutes worked the ball to Kevin Englund, who found McDaniels for the game-winning lay-up with eight seconds to play. Aker, who forced the overtime, missed a three-point attempt at the end. Joining McDaniels in double figures for PLU were Gabe Smith with 12 points, Kyle MacTaggart with 11 and Dressler with 10. Landon Heidenreich contributed seven rebounds, eight assists and five points to the victory. The Lutes shot 46 percent from the field to 40 percent for Concordia, and the visitors also enjoyed a 49-39 rebounding edge. Desmond Meray scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the first half for the Cavaliers, who also got 17 points from Ryan Johnson and 16 from Aker.

ALL-TOURNAMENT LUTES: McDaniel tallied 53 points and 19 rebounds in Pacific Lutheran's two tournament victories to earn tournament most valuable player honors. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Josh Dressler, who scored 40 points in two games. The Lutes were the only team with more than one player on the all-tournament team.

NWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: McDaniel’s outstanding performance in the tournament also earned Northwest Conference Player of the Week honors. His first such honors guarantees that the Lutes will have at least one player of the week for the second straight year. Prior to Jared Brandeberry receiving the honor in December of last season, the Lutes had not had a conference player of the week since Neil Mendez in January 2001.

AT HOME ON THE ROAD: Tonight’s game will be the third for the Lutes in a five-game road stretch to start the season. PLU will play its first home game against Northwest University on Dec. 7, and will only play 10 of its 25 scheduled games on its home court.

INJURY REPORT: Senior wing Jared Brandeberry had surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot a of couple weeks ago. He will begin rehab within the next week and is expected to return to action in January. Freshman post Victor Bull has been nursing a severely sprained ankle for several weeks and is just now returning to team workouts.

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