TACOMA, Wash. – After seven minutes inside Olson Gymnasium on Tuesday night, the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team trailed Portland Bible College 13-12, but the Lutes utilized a 56-14 run and cruised to an 84-46 win over the Wildcats.
"I didn't like the way we came out initially," said PLU Head Coach
Chad Murray. "We just lacked some intensity and energy and that's probably my fault for having a boring pregame speech. Once we shook that off though, I like what we were able to do inside with Brandin and then I thought
Sam Morasch really gave us a jolt of energy with his play late in the first half. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but that gave us a chance to work on our offensive rebounding, which I thought was really good. We are looking forward to going out play Central Washington on Saturday."
Brandin Riedel led the effort with 20 points and five rebounds and junior
Sean McCurdy poured in 16 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. The duo shot a combined 16-for-21 from the field.
Brett Williams added 11 and
Jordan Thomas had a solid all-around performance with five points, two steals, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Sixteen Lutes saw action on the evening and the hosts put forth a dominating effort on the glass, outrebounding the Wildcats 50-30. PLU held Portland Bible to 33.33 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers.
In the second half, the Lutes led by as many as 41 points when sophomore guard
Sam Morasch picked up his third assist on a layup by Riedel with just over 11 minutes to play.
PLU (6-2, 2-0 NWC) will hit the road on Saturday for an exhibition game against NCAA Division II opponent Central Washington University. Tip-off in Ellensburg is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
