Lutes 'thrive' in invite

PLU men move record to 2-1 in non-conference play

Andrew Croft

Mast sports reporter

The Lutes traveled down to Oregon Nov. 20 to face the Cascade College Thunderbirds with the hope to increase their already impressive 2 – 1 record. Unfortunately for the Lutes, they didn’t get a win. However, they didn’t earn a loss either. As the 7 o’clock game time approached, not one official was in the gym and the game was cancelled.

“We waited an hour and still no one showed up,” sophomore, Kyle Clearman said. “It’s kind of hard to play a game when you don’t have any officials.”

“It was completely my fault,”Cascade Sports Information director, Cody Harrod said. “I scheduled the refs for the wrong day.”

Despite the wasted 4 hour bus ride without playing a game, the Lutes are off to an impressive start this pre-season.

In the Lutes’ opening tournament of the season, the Northwest Lutheran Invitational Tournament, which was sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the Lutes got two victories and were crowned the tournament champions.

The Lutes’ first victory came against Augsburg College from Minnesota, winning 84 – 73. With the win, the Lutes advance to the tournament championship game.

Coming into the game the Lutes knew little about Augsburg, according to head coach Steve Dickerson.

The lack of knowledge didn’t deter the Lutes from getting their first victory of the season.
Josh Dressler, junior, and Scott McDaniels, senior, had 60 of the Lutes’ 84 points as both players scored 30.

In the early minutes of the game, Augsburg grabbed a 7 – 2 lead. After that, the Lutes took the lead and broke away, taking a 44 – 36 lead into half time. Augsburg never saw the lead again.

The following day the Lutes faced the Concordia-Portland Cavaliers and won in overtime 79 – 77.
In the first half, the Lutes lead by as much as 8 points, but the Cavaliers ended the half on a 10 – 1 run, taking the lead into halftime, 37 – 33.

The Lutes got right back in the game in the beginning of the second half and with 49 seconds left, Dressler made a lay-up to put the Lutes up 68 – 63.

Concordia’s Cody Aker played Superman, scoring 5 points in the remaining 49 seconds, including the game-tying 3 with 2 seconds left.

The Lutes took the lead in overtime with a Dressler lay-up. 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.

Aker missed his second foul shot and first-year Gregory Bogdan grabbed the rebound. Bogdan found sophomore Kevin Englund who passed it to McDaniels down low for the game-winning lay-up with 8 seconds to play.

Concordia’s big-shot Aker couldn’t close the game out, missing a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving Pacific Lutheran the tournament championship.

“It was such a great win,” Englund said. “It’s a great way to start our season.”

With a combined 53 points and 19 rebounds in two games, as well as the game-winning shot against Concordia, McDaniels earned the tournament’s MVP award.

McDaniels also earned All-Tournament team honors. Dressler did as well.

With the Lutes back in Washington, they traveled down to Olympia for another road game Wednesday, Nov. 21 against the Evergreen College Geoducks.

The Lutes fell behind early and could not come back, earning their first loss of the season, 88 – 71.

The Geoducks shot 48 percent from the field and never led by less than 17 points. Sophomore Gabe Smith led the Lutes in scoring with 16 points.

“We just never had control of the game,” Smith said.

The Lutes look to rebound as they face Division II opponent Saint Martins University in Lacey Wednesday.

Photo by Chris Hunt

Senior Scott McDaniels goes for a basket last season. McDaniels was given the MVP award at the Northwest Lutheran Invitational Tournament along with earning All-Tournament team honors with his teammate junior Josh Dressler. The Lutes went 2-1 in the tournament, taking first place.