KIRKLAND, Wash. — Jordan Thomas had a double-double but the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team was unable to match the firepower of a red-hot Northwest University in a 91-78 non-conference setback on Saturday night. 
 
The host Eagles (6-3) scorched the nets, hitting 14 threes on the night and finished the contest shooting at a 58.3 percent clip from beyond the arc. That included a barrage of 13 threes in the opening 20 minutes, misfiring on just four threes in the first half.
 
"These last two Saturday games have featured some things that are extremely rare," said Head Coach Chad Murray.
 
"Unfortunately for us, tonight we saw a team that shot the three at a clip I've never seen before. We had a hard time staying in front of the ball and they really made us pay for our help and even when we had good clean fundamental contests, they made them anyway."
 
Buckets from Jordan Thomas and Brandin Riedel gave the Lutes a 4-0 lead just over a minute into the game but host Northwest was on fire for the next 10 minutes, sinking eight treys and mounting a 37-9 run to stake a 24-point lead. 
 
PLU (3-5) outscored Northwest 37-29 in the second half, narrowing the gap to just eight points on two occasions, including with just over eight minutes left but was unable to complete the comeback. 
 
"I absolutely loved our response in the second half that created a legitmate opportunity to catch them. The guys were resilient and really gave the extra effort needed to get back in the game but ultimately we dug ourselves too deep a hole to climb out of."
 
Jordan Thomas finished with a double-double to pace the Lutes, scoring 16 points and hauling in 13 rebounds, shooting seven-for-10 from the floor. Jackson Resiner drained a trio of treys and finished with 13 points while Jack Williams and Shane McGaughey-Fick contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
"I thought Jordan did a fantastic job on their leading scorer. Unfortunately, some other guys had fantastic performances that proved too much to overcome."
 
55 of Northwest's 91 points came from Lewis Pope and Coa Chatman. Pope dropped a game-high 35 points, canning six three-pointers on the evening. 
 
PLU outrebounded the host Eagles 38-23, including an 18-9 edge in offensive boards while shooting 50 percent (30-for-60) from the field. Northwest thrived from beyond the arc, hitting 14 of their 24 three-point attempts. 
 
"We haven't been able to put it all together yet this year. I'm hopeful that as we stick with our process and continue being patient with our results, we'll get to a point where we can string some wins together."
 
The Lutes fly out to Naples, Florida on Dec. 19 to face Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg.