The Oglethorpe men's basketball team began its weekend at the Doug McArthur Classic in Tacoma, Wash., on the right foot Friday afternoon. They took down Pacific Lutheran, 74-58, in a game that took place at the University of Puget Sound, across town from Pacific Lutheran. The victory improves the Stormy Petrels to 3-1 on the season.
The game, which served as Pacific Lutheran's season opener, was close throughout a large portion of the first half. However, the Petrels never trailed. They used a 22-10 stretch over the last 10 minutes of the period, highlighted by a 15-5 run in the final six, to build a 12-point lead at halftime, 40-28. The Lutes never really recoverd in the second half, never cutting the Oglethorpe lead to less than seven points.
The Petrels got several excellent individual performances. Junior guard Drew Patrick scored 14 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with seven, shooting 4-of-8 from the field, 2-of-4 from three-point range and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. Senior center Jordan Kinney returned to the lineup after missing the two previous games with an ankle injury, pouring in 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Sophomore guard Connor Smith led all scorers with 16 points while senior guard Alex Davis passed out six assists while scoring 10 points on 3-of-6 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. Davis grabbed five rebounds and a pair of steals, as well.
The Petrels outshot the Lutes 49.1 percent to 37.1 percent on the afternoon. The game marked the third game out of four this season that Oglethorpe held their opponent to under 40 percent from the field. They also helped themselves from the free-throw line, making two-thirds of their free throws to Pacific Lutheran's 46.2 percent. The Petrels passed out 13 assists and committed just eight turnovers while the Lutes did exactly the opposite. As a result, Oglethorpe outscored their opponents 20-11 off turnovers.
The game began with the Petrels taking a 6-0 lead, but Pacific Lutheran came back to within a basket. The two sides proceeded to trade baskets for the remainder of the opening 10 minutes, with the Lutes tying the score, 18-18, with 10:30 left. It was the only tie of the game. From that point, Oglethorpe started the 22-10 stretch to end the half. In addition to the 15-5 run to end the stanza, the Petrels also had an 18-5 spurt over a seven-minute period, taking a 36-23 lead with 3:06 to go. Smith scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half, going 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-3 from three-point range in the period.
In the second half, the Petrels maintained their cushion, stringing a couple baskets together whenever Pacific Lutheran started to get close enough to threaten. They went on one such spurt early in the second, building their lead from nine points back to 13 with 17:27 left. After the two sides traded baskets for awhile, the Lutes ran off seven straight points to get the Oglethorpe lead down to seven points, 51-44, with 11:19 left. From that point, Oglethorpe hit the gas again, putting the game away while ending on a 23-14 stretch over the final 10:23.
"I was very pleased with our effort on both ends of the court tonight," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "I was encouraged with the way we bounced back from a tough game on Tuesday. We played a great game defensively and had a very balanced attack offensively. Having Jordan back gave us a big boost, as well."
The Petrels will play their second of back-to-back nights at the McArthur Classic Saturday, when they take on hosts Puget Sound at 11 p.m. ET. The home-standing Loggers are coming off a season in which they finished 15-12 and went to the championship game in the highly-competitive Northwest Conference.