TACOMA, Wash. – Jackson Reisner has one main role on the Pacific Lutheran men's basketball team: make 3-pointers.
He did just that Saturday, hitting four long balls in the second half to help lead the Lutes to a 77-71 nonconference victory against Warner Pacific in the home opener.
Reisner hit four 3-pointers in the opening five minutes of the second half, helping the Lutes open up a 51-40 lead.
"My teammates are very, very encouraging throughout the entire game," Reisner said. "I missed four or five and I came in the locker room (at halftime) and all the guys were so reassuring, telling me to keep firing it and the next one will fall. And they did."
Reisner didn't play much his first two seasons, but with most of the outside threats the Lutes had to offer from a year ago now graduated, Reisner is certainly going to be shouldering a lot of the load from beyond the arc.
"Everyone on our team has the most confidence in the world in him to shoot 3s regardless of whether he went 5-for-5 or 0-for-5," PLU coach Chad Murray said. "Shooters shoot. He shot his way out of it, so what he did in the second half was the stuff we see every day in practice."
After a Jordan Thomas layup gave the Lutes a 37-30 lead, Reisner began his barrage.
He hit back-to-back 3-pointers to force a Warner Pacific timeout with 18 minutes, 37 seconds left in the second half and the Lutes up 43-30.
After a Sean McCurdy layup, Reisner hit again for a 48-34 lead. After the Knights scored six unanswered, Reisner hit his final 3-pointer off an assist by Thomas.
"It was awesome," Reisner said. "There is only one thing I want to do for this team and that is make 3s because I know it brings excitement to our team and the gym.
"The fact I get to do that this year and to get the time to do that is just a blessing."
The Knights refused to go quietly, though, eventually tying the game at 62-62 with 4:47 remaining on a 3-pointer by Isaac Etter.
On the other end, though, freshman Croix Sweeney calmly drained a 3-pointer of his own on a pass by Reisner to give the Lutes the lead for good.
"A freshman steps up and knocks a 3 down with 4 minutes to go with no hesitation no nothing," Murray said. "That was really cool to see."
The Lutes then did a solid job from the free throw line down the stretch to see out the victory.
Reisner finished with a team-high 17 points and four assists, while Brandin Riedel added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. McCurdy had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Thomas had 10 points and 12 rebounds and Sam Noland had 12 points and four assists.
"When we have guys like Jackson who can shoot from the outside, it opens up the driving lanes for Jordan and inside touches for Brandin," Murray said. "When Brandin got going, it's because we stretched them a little bit."
Etter finished with a game-high 25 points, while Thomas Miles had 24 points, seven rebounds and five steals for Warner Pacific.
The Lutes (2-0 overall) are back in action at 7 p.m. Saturday against California Lutheran at Olson Gymnasium.
