Sophomore Sean Wallis tied his career-high with 20 points, hitting 2-of-4 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. He also added a game-high six assists. Junior Troy Ruths notched 19 points and nine rebounds in the win.
Washington U.'s defense was the story in the first half of the game as they held Luther without a field goal for the first six minutes to build a 10-2 lead. Back-to-back lay-ups by Wallis pushed the Bears lead to 14-4 with 13:10 remaining in the half.
Sophomore Tyler Nading and Wallis drained back-to-back three's to extend the lead to 26-13 with 7:19 remaining. Washington U. built is largest lead of the half at 34-19 with 3:56 left after freshman Tyler Gordon drained two free-throws.
Washington U. held Luther to 30.8 percent (7-23) shooting in the first half, but the Norse connected on 10-of-12 free-throws to keep it close. Wallis led the Bears with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the first half.
Luther cut the lead to eight (40-32) on a lay-up by Drew Devine early in the second half, but Ruths took over the game scoring 10 of the Bears first 15 points of the half to extend the lead to 52-37. Wallis put the game out of reach with a three-pointer with 3:24 left to push the lead to 79-55.
The Bears shot 50 percent (31-62) from the field for the game, and 46.7 percent (7-15) from three-point range. The Bears, who were outrebounded 18-14 in the first half, held a 39-31 advantage on the boards for the game. Nading also scored in doubles figures for the Bears notching 15 points and seven rebounds. Drew Devine led Luther with 13 points, while Nate Neis added 10.