TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team never trailed in the season opener, pulling away in the second half in a 75-53 victory over in-state rival Evergreen State College on Wednesday night inside Olson Gymnasium.
"That was a great first game for the Lutes! We're really pleased the contributions of a lot of different guys throughout the game. We have a lot to work on but I think we have a lot of different guys that can help us win basketball games," said Head Coach
Chad Murray.
Brandin Riedel scored the opening bucket of the season just 21 seconds into the game before the Geoducks (0-2) answered with a bucket of their own to tie the game at 2-2 just under a minute into the game. It would be the only tie of the contest with
Miles Nash draining a layup on the next possession as PLU scored the next seven points. The Lutes led by as many as eight in the first stanza, including with 7:07 remaining on a
Dirk Plakinger layup but Evergreen State refused to back down, cutting the gap to a single point with 4:18 remaining and trailing just 38-35 at the halftime intermission.
Pacific Lutheran's lead dwindled to a single point 45 seconds into the second half but the Lutes quickly answered with layups from Riedel, Nash, and
Sam Noland to push the lead back to seven. The Lutes would later use a 9-0 run to open up a 14-point gap on the in-state rivals and led by double digits the rest of way in the 22-point blowout victory.
Noland paced the Lutes offensively with 15 points, shooting seven-for-13 from the floor with four rebounds. Plakinger added 12 points off the bench in just 17 minutes of action, hitting five of his six shots from the field including a pair of treys while Nash added 10 in his Lute debut and a team-best seven rebounds.
Jack Williams added nine points with Riedel dishing out a team-high five assists.
"Dirk is coming off of an ankle injury that kept him out for a handful of practices but came back tonight to give us some spark and energy off the bench. We wanted to tighten up our defense in the second half and the guys responded really well to the tune of 15 consecutive stops that allowed us to pull away."
PLU dominated the paint, enjoying a 36-16 edge in points in the paint and enjoyed a 44-28 rebounding advantage. The Lutes shot 51.7 percent (30-for-58) from the field and limited the Geoducks to shooting just 32.8 percent (19-for-58) on the night.
The Lutes continue their homestand on Monday, hosting Northwest University at 7 p.m.
