Sophomore Troy Ruths scored a career-high 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 11-of-13 shooting from the free-throw line to earn the Robert L. Burnes Most Valuable Player Award. He also added a season-high nine rebounds in the victory.
Ruths was joined on the all-tournament team by sophomore Nick Netsch of the University of Dallas, sophomore Ian McCormick of Swarthmore College, freshman Tyler Nading of Washington University and seniors Lewis Jiles and Stefan Spath of Wisconsin Lutheran College.
Wisconsin Lutheran (1-6) scored the first four points of the game before the Bears answered with a 6-0 run to grab its first lead at 6-4. WU led 20-18 with 6:46 remaining after Nading connected on two-free throws. The Warriors answered with a 15-6 run as Jiles and BJ Miller each had five points to give Wisconsin Lutheran a 33-26 lead with 2:25 remaining. Jiles gave the Warriors their largest lead of the game at 37-28 with 1:13 left after he scored on a jumper in the lane.
Jiles led all scorers with 12 points in the opening half on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Nading had 10 points for the Bears in the first half, as WU shot 37.5 percent (9-24) from the field. The Bears also committed 11 turnovers in the opening frame, as Wisconsin Lutheran had 18 points of turnovers in the first half.
The Bears opened the second half of play on a 27-6 run as WU held Wisconsin Lutheran scoreless for 8:35 during the run. Washington U. hit their first five shots of the half, including two three-pointers from senior Scott Stone, to tie the score at 45-45. The Bears continued its hot shooting as Ruths connected on a three-point play to push the lead to 48-45 with 14:35 remaining.
Danny Behm of Wisconsin Lutheran hit three-straight three-pointers to trim the lead to 61-54 with 7:29 left, but the Warriors would get no closer. A three-pointer by Nading with 30 seconds left in the game gave the Bears their largest lead of the game at 80-65, which ended up being the final score.
Nading finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Stone added 10 points and four assists as he moved into a tie for sixth place on the all-time WU list with 287 career assists. Junior Neal Griffin added a career-high eight assists and seven points in the victory.
Washington University (5-2) returns to action Tue., Dec. 6 at Blackburn College. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. in Carlinville, Ill.
Official Basketball Box Score
Wisconsin Lutheran College vs Washington University
12-3-05 8 p.m. at St. Louis, Mo. (WU Field House)
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VISITORS: Wisconsin Lutheran College 1-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
23 Miller, BJ.......... f 3-9 1-5 0-2 2 2 4 3 7 0 2 0 0 26
33 Hagel, Brian........ f 1-6 0-4 3-3 0 2 2 3 5 3 3 0 1 28
41 Krygiel, Pat........ f 1-3 0-0 1-3 3 2 5 1 3 1 1 0 0 18
11 Spath, Stefan....... g 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 6 5 3 1 1 29
13 Jiles, Lewis........ g 8-17 2-4 0-0 2 5 7 3 18 0 2 0 0 22
10 Biesterfeld, Micah.. 1-3 1-3 2-2 0 1 1 3 5 0 0 0 1 23
14 Zondag, Marcus...... 1-3 0-1 3-6 3 2 5 2 5 1 1 0 0 15
21 Sorum, Nate......... 2-5 0-1 2-2 1 1 2 3 6 1 0 0 0 12
24 Behm, Danny......... 3-9 3-8 0-0 1 2 3 2 9 3 2 0 3 16
35 Dunlop, Drew........ 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 11
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 23-61 7-26 12-20 17 19 36 22 65 14 17 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-29 51.7% 2nd Half: 8-32 25.0% Game: 37.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-13 23.1% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 26.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 6-13 46.2% Game: 60.0% 5,2
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HOME TEAM: Washington University 5-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Nading, Tyler....... f 4-6 1-2 5-7 1 6 7 4 14 0 2 1 3 36
50 Ruths, Troy......... f 7-11 0-0 11-13 4 5 9 2 25 3 7 1 3 35
55 Grunst, Mike........ c 3-6 0-0 2-4 0 2 2 3 8 1 1 2 0 25
10 Griffin, Neal....... g 2-4 2-2 1-2 1 1 2 1 7 8 1 0 1 30
33 Stone, Scott........ g 3-12 2-8 2-2 1 1 2 1 10 4 0 0 2 30
12 Wallis, Sean........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 1 1 0 0 12
22 Ashcraft-Williams, I 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 2 1 0 0 0 9
24 O'Boyle, Danny...... 2-4 1-3 2-2 0 1 1 2 7 0 0 0 0 10
30 Nikitas, Nick....... 2-5 1-4 2-2 0 1 1 3 7 2 3 0 0 13
Team................ 1 4 5
Totals.............. 24-50 7-20 25-32 9 24 33 19 80 20 15 4 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-24 37.5% 2nd Half: 15-26 57.7% Game: 48.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-10 20.0% 2nd Half: 5-10 50.0% Game: 35.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-14 85.7% 2nd Half: 13-18 72.2% Game: 78.1% 3
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Officials: Larry Jacobsen, Kelly Hunt, Rob Wolff
Technical fouls: Wisconsin Lutheran College-None. Washington
University-None.
Attendance: 523
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Wisconsin Lutheran College.... 39 26 - 65
Washington University......... 32 48 - 80
Championship game of 2005 Lopata Classic
Washington University wins 2005 Lopata Classic Championship
Points in the paint-WLC 32,WASHU 28. Points off turnovers-WLC 23,WASHU 23.
2nd chance points-WLC 8,WASHU 10. Fast break points-WLC 6,WASHU 10.
Bench points-WLC 26,WASHU 16. Score tied-5 times. Lead changed-7 times.
Last FG-WLC 2nd-02:40, WASHU 2nd-00:30.
Largest lead-WLC by 9 1st-01:13, WASHU by 15 2nd-00:30.