TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team is back on the hardwood after a weekend off, making the short trip across town to face a pair of non-conference opponents at the University of Puget Sound's Doug McArthur Classic. 
 
The Lutes (1-1) were last in action on Nov. 8th and 9th as they participated in the Santa Cruz Tournament in California. PLU took its first game of the tournament with ease, defeating Johnson & Wales University (Colo.) by a 72-42 margin. The Lutes posted a very balanced scoring effort with eleven different players on the scoresheet and Leighton Kingma leading with 13 points. In the second game, the Lutes fell just short against University of California Santa Cruz, 60-57. Kelton Williams led the team with 17 points with both Jordan Thomas and Jacob Bingham coming out with 11 points.
 


"Some takeaways from the tournament in Santa Cruz are that we're trying to start games strong as well as we play pretty good ball when everyone is on the same page," said junior point guard Kelton Williams. "The win against Johnson & Wales was amazing. The team couldn't have asked for a better way to open the season. What the team can learn from the loss against Santa Cruz is that we have to get off to a better start in the beginning of games."
 
Williams played an integral part for the team with two solid performances and was named to the All-Tournament team for the weekend.
 
"It was a great honor to be named All-tournament team in Santa Cruz. I worked hard all season and during pre-season, so I'm glad to see a little bit of success so early in the season."
 
The chemistry within the team has shown to be very strong already in the early stage of the season, with the new additions to the team.
 
"The chemistry with our guys is great and has the potential to be very strong this year. I feel that we have a team this year that likes each other on and off court which will help us a lot." 
 
As a junior, Williams is not only working hard out on the court but in the classroom as well with intentions of graduating next year.
 
"My major is kinesiology and my post grad plans is to hopefully continue playing basketball at the next level. My interest for this field personally started because I love to work out and find better ways to overall improve my lifestyle and others. Also, I find learning about the body and why the body functions the way it does pretty cool."
 
 Outside of school and basketball, Williams enjoys playing Xbox, listening to music, and hanging out with friends.
 
With the tournament coming up this weekend, the team has been practicing and working hard to improve their performance.
 
"The team has been preparing for our upcoming opponents by doing drills that correlate to the way these two teams play. It will be a great test to see how we perform after our last tournament." 
 
The Lutes will hit the court again this weekend at UPS in the Doug McArthur Classic, as they play Chapman University on Friday at 6 p.m. and Warner Pacific University (Ore.) on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Nov. 23: PLU vs. Chapman in Tacoma, Wash. (6 p.m.)
 
Series History: This will be the third all-time meeting between the two programs. The two squads met last season in Orange, California with the host Panthers downing the Lutes 69-49. 
 
About the Panthers: Chapman opens its season on Friday after finishing the 2018-2019 season with a 17-9 overall record and a 10-6 mark in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The Panthers lose three of their top four scorers from a season ago with Chandler White the top returner, netting 13.4 points per game last season.

 

Nov. 24: PLU vs. Warner Pacific in Tacoma, Wash. (4 p.m.)
 
Series History: This will be just the second all-time meeting between the Lutes and Knights. Warner Pacific holds a 1-0 advantage in the series, prevailing 63-48 during the 1985-1986 season. 
 
About the Knights: Warner Pacific (3-2) already has eight games under its belt, including a trio of exhibitions. The Knights opened the season with two wins over Vancouver Island University, prevailing 83-56 and 87-70 before falling 83-64 to University of Antelope Valley. WPU fell short 84-53 to Lewis-Clark State College before returning to the win column with a 73-57 victory over the University of Montana Western.
 
Four Knights average in double figures with Kadeem Strickland leading the charge with a 16.3 points per game average. Eskari Carter chips in 14.0 ppg and 4.7 assists per game while JD Esters and Kendall Watson add 13.8 and 12.2 ppg, respectively.