TACOMA, Wash. — A
Noah Gathings three in the final seconds provided a frosty outcome for the Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team's Minnesota opponent, as the Lutes moved to 2-0 on the season with a 79-78 victory over Augsburg University on Saturday night inside Olson Gymnasium.
The Lutes (2-0) trailed by two coming off a timeout with 26 seconds remaining before Gathings buried a three with 22 tickets left off a pass from
Henry Smith. The Auggies (1-1) had two chances to take the lead, missing a layup with four ticks left and another at the buzzer as PLU remained undefeated after surviving a wild game that included seven lead changes and eight ties.
"That was a great early season test against a really good team with an all-American type player," said Head Coach
Chad Murray.
"We didn't play great but we stuck with it through some early turnovers and some choppy execution. We did a nice job finishing the first half and then I thought we had good intensity defensively for the first 10 minutes of the second half. We weren't as aggressive on both ends as we needed to be so that gave them their opportunity to steal the game. We were fortunate at the end to come out on top."
Augsburg led by as many as four early in the first half before the Lutes took control, scoring 11 straight to seize a nine-point lead.
Caleb Berry started the rally with a pair of buckets with a Gathings layup capping the run. PLU stayed in the lead with a
Henry Smith trey giving PLU a 41-33 halftime edge.
The Lute lead swelled to 12 early in the second but the Auggies battled back, pulling within a possession with 11:20 remaining. PLU led by three with 2:34 remaining and would trail by two less than a minute later. A Berry jumper tied the game with 69 tickets left only to see the Auggies pull ahead again on a pair of free throws with 52 ticks left. Gathings answered with his clutch three in what proved to be the final points of the night.
"Noah had a tremendous weekend. He had a huge responsibility to not only guard a high-level player but also be counted on to hit big shots. He stuck with it, stayed in the moment and that allowed him to do whatever he did which was make a game winning three."
Gathings and
Charlie Kapranos tied for the team lead in scoring, both dropping 18 points with
Henry Smith adding 12. Smith led the team on the glass with eight rebounding with Gathings dishing out four assists.
Augsburg's JJ Semanko led all scorers with 33 points.
PLU outmuscled Augsburg on the glass, owning a 37-28 rebounding edge while maximizing its bench with the Lutes reserves outscoring the Auggie bench 36-13.
The Lutes are back in action next Saturday, traveling to Portland to face Warner Pacific University at 3 p.m.
