Lutes Head South to Visit Oregon Schools

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran (6-7 overall, 4-2 Northwest Conference) at Willamette (3-12, 0-6), Friday, 8 p.m.; PLU at George Fox (6-9, 3-3), Saturday, 8 p.m.

LISTEN TO THE LUTES: You can listen to this weekend's PLU men's basketball games on KLAY 1180 AM in the Tacoma area and also at www.klay1180.com. Long-time announcer Bob Robertson returns to call the action for the Lutes.

ABOUT THE BEARCATS: Willamette has struggled defensively through its first 15 games this season, giving up the most points per game (88.7) in the Northwest Conference. Offensively, Willamette ranks fourth in the league with an average of 80 points per game, but the Bearcats' -8.7 scoring margin ranks last in the conference. Willamette ranks seventh in the NWC with a -1.93 turnover margin, and the Bearcats' 0.75 assist/turnover ratio ranks eighth. The Bearcats boast the league's top scorer in Cameron Mitchell (20.3 points per game), with three other players averaging in the Northwest Conference top-25 in scoring: Taylor Mounts (12th, 13.5), Marcus Holmes (20th, 11.6) and Terrell Malley (25th, 10.1). Mitchell is a potential NWC Player of the Year candidate, also ranking as the only NWC player to average double-digit rebounds with 12.1 per game, while compiling a .578 field goal percentage and 1.33 blocked shots per game, both ranking second-best in the conference. Mounts ranks sixth in the conference with an average of 7.1 rebounds per game. Robbie Kunke leads the NWC with an average of 6.25 assists per game and ranks second with a 2.14 assist/turnover ratio.

THE SERIES: This season will mark the 99th and 100th times the Lutes and Bearcats have faced off since their first meeting during the 1951-52 season. The series has been evenly matched throughout that time, with the Lutes jumping off to a 13-2 advantage through the first 15 games, including a 10-game winning streak. Since that time, the Bearcats have posted winning streaks of nine and six games (twice). Since the 2001-02 season, Willamette has posted a 13-3 record against the Lutes, and the Bearcats are currently working on a three-game winning streak.

ABOUT THE BRUINS: George Fox has split its first six Northwest Conference games despite posting the league's second-worst scoring margin (-6.1 points per game) this season. The Bruins rank seventh in the conference offensively with an average of 73.2 points per game, while defensively they rank sixth with an average of 79.3 opponents' points per game. George Fox leads the NWC in three-point field goal percentage (.381) and ranks second in three-point field goal percentage defense (.311). The Bruins average 4.3 less rebounds per game than their opponents and rank last in the league with a turnover margin of -2.47. George Fox boasts four scorers that average double figures in Alex Stockner (14.7 points per game), Rich Smith (13.3), Stephen Wisely (11.9) and Evan Atwater (11.0). Smith averages 7.1 rebounds per game, while Stockner checks in with 5.7. Wisely ranks third in the NWC with 4.93 assists per contest, and leads the league with a .909 free throw percentage. He also averages two steals per game, fourth-most in the conference.

THE SERIES: The Lutes have won the past five games in a series that stretches back to the 1985-86 season. Pacific Lutheran owns a 17-12 overall advantage against the Bruins.

PLU 84, WHITMAN 76: Pacific Lutheran took an early 8-3 lead, but the first half featured several ties and lead changes until the closing minutes when the Lutes were able to open up an eight-point bulge, 42-34, on Cameron Reister's layup with 49 seconds left in the period. Whitman closed out the half with four straight points on a LuQuam Thompson jumper and two David Michaels free throws. The Missionaries built on that momentum in the opening minutes of the second half, taking their largest lead of the game at 51-44 on a free throw by Thompson with 15:08 remaining in the contest. At that point, the Lutes replied with a crucial 21-5 run to build a 65-56 advantage with 8:40 remaining. MacTaggart scored nine points and Andrew Earnest added seven more during the game-changing run. The Lutes led by as much as 11 points, 79-68, with 2:15 left when the Missionaries made a final push. Brandon Shaw's jumper in the lane with 47 seconds left cut the deficit 81-76, but they would not score after that and the Lutes closed out the game for the victory.

WHITWORTH 75, PLU 52: Pacific Lutheran struggled at the free throw line early and from all over the floor late as the visiting Whitworth Pirates pulled away to a 75-52 Northwest Conference victory. Some hot three-point shooting for the Lutes kept them close for the first 15 minutes. Curtis Trondsen finished the half a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc to lead PLU. However, missed free throws - PLU made only one of six attempts from the charity stripe in the last five minutes of the first half - plagued the Lutes down the stretch as Whitworth pulled away with a 17-7 run. The Pirates went into halftime with a 50-36 lead. After the break, the PLU offense never again found its rhythm. The Lutes shot only 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from the field in the second half and went 0-for-5 from three-point range as Whitworth pulled away to a 24-point lead with 8:40 left to play. PLU inched to within 20 on a couple of Kyle MacTaggart free throws at the six-minute mark, but the Lutes never got closer than that.

LUTES BY THE NUMBERS: Kyle MacTaggart, a 6-4 junior wing from Goodyear, Ariz., leads the Lutes in scoring with an average of 14.6 points per game. James Conti, a 5-10 sophomore point guard from Edmonds, averages 9.7 points and 3.62 assists per game, while Victor Bull, a 6-7 junior post from San Francisco, averages 9.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Bull averages 28 minutes per game to lead a team that has eight players seeing an average of at least 14 minutes per contest. PLU is shooting 37 percent from three-point range but needs to figure out how to slow down its opponents, who are making nearly 48 percent of their attempts from the field. They've also got to figure out how to get more first half offense - while PLU has out-scored its opponents by 27 points (510-483) overall in the second half this season, the Lutes have been out-scored by 76 points (509-433) in the opening period. The Lutes, additionally, are a plus 0.2 rebounds per game compared to their opponents.

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