TACOMA, Wash. – Four players scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the Pacific Lutheran men's basketball team dropped its Northwest Conference opener Friday to visiting Whitman.
Sam Noland had a team-high 16 points and two assists, while Brandin Riedel added 15 points and four rebounds.
"Give credit to Whitman, they hit some timely shots and did what they had to do to win the game," PLU coach Chad Murray said. "I felt like we got tired both mentally and physically in the second half for a stretch and that really cost us. We made some errors and they made us pay for them in a big way."
The teams battled back and forth in a see-saw first half, but the Blues(6-1 overall, 1-0 NWC) used a 10-0 run early in the second half to pull away. The Lutes (2-3, 0-1) trailed by as many as 15, before putting together a rally late to pull within 74-67 after three free throws by Shane McGaughey-Fick and two by Noland.
"I did like our competitiveness and willingness to respond and fight to stay in the game," Murray said, "but we had a stretch where we had some near misses and they cashed in on some 3s to create too wide of a gap to close.
"We'll need to regroup and learn from this quickly as we have a chance to redeem ourselves (Saturday)."
Whitman made 14 3-pointers in the game and it proved too much for the Lutes to overcome.
Â
Sean McCurdy had 13 points and three rebounds, while Jordan Thomas added 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks.
The Lutes are back in action at 6 p.m. Saturday against Whitworth.
