PLU Salts Away Win Against Banana Slugs

TACOMA - Pacific Lutheran outscored UC Santa Cruz by 20 points in the second half on the way to an 84-60 men's basketball win in Saturday's final day of the UPS Tipoff Classic at Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Lutes shot the ball well in both halves and finished the game making 32-for-61, good for 53 percent from the floor. Where the game's outcome turned was PLU's defensive pressure in the second half as the Banana Slugs managed to shoot just 5-for-25 from the field in the closing 20 minutes.

Cameron Schilling scored 13 points to lead five Lutes in double figures. Curtis Trondsen and Andrew Earnest both tallied 12 points, Kyle MacTaggart had 11 and Victor Bull added 10 for PLU, which improved its season record to 1-1. UC Santa Cruz dropped to 0-3 with the defeat.

A total of 10 different Lutes scored in the second half and 11 overall had points as head coach Steve Dickerson played all 15 of the players available to him. No one played more than 29 minutes for PLU.

For the second straight game, the Lutes handled the opposition on the backboard, grabbing 38 rebounds to 29 for the Banana Slugs. The rebounding was balanced with MacTaggart and Bull leading the team with five boards apiece.

James Conti, who scored a total of 30 points in PLU's two tournament games, earned all-tournament honors.