PARKLAND – Pacific Lutheran never trailed as the Lutes pulled away to a 52-41 men's basketball victory over Pacific in the Northwest Conference season opener Friday night at Names Family Court.
Pacific Lutheran improved to 3-7 overall and 1-0 in conference play with the win, while Pacific fell to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the NWC. The Lutes return to action next weekend, heading down to Oregon to take on George Fox and Lewis & Clark.
Dylan Foreman scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Lutes, hitting five of his nine shot attempts in the win. Brandon Lester added nine points as he made three of his four three-point attempts, and Bryce Miller grabbed nine rebounds. As a team PLU made 54.5 percent of its shots from long-range (6-of-11) and 42.9 percent overall (18-of-42).
Mitch Wettig led Pacific with 10 points, while Riley Grandinetti scored nine. The Boxers shot 35.6 percent overall (16-of-45), including 26.1 percent from three-point range (6-of-23).
Lester began the night with a three-pointer on PLU's second possession, and the Boxers tied it up a moment later at 5-5. A 10-2 PLU run helped the Lutes claim a 15-7 lead seven minutes into the game, but Pacific rallied back to within one at 19-18 before tying it up at 23-23 on a layup by Skyler Burgess with two minutes to play in the first period. Lester bookended the half with another three-pointer to give PLU a 26-23 advantage heading into the break.
Following an Erik Swartout free throw in the opening minute of the second period, Grandinetti hit a three to pull Pacific within one. That proved to be the closest the Boxers would get the rest of the way. Foreman responded with a three for the Lutes as PLU used a 15-4 run to go up 12 points with 13:24 on the clock.
Another Grandinetti three ended the PLU run, and a Burgess layup gave Pacific five straight points and pulled the Boxers back to seven back. Two free throws by Daniel Gunther at the nine-minute mark made it a six-point game at 44-38, but the Lutes scored the next eight points as Lester capped the streak with his final three of the day to make it 52-38. Bobby Ahern followed with a three-pointer for Pacific with 3:14 remaining, but neither team scored the rest of the way as the Lutes picked up the 11-point win.
