DECORAH, Iowa – The Luther College men's basketball team has always played some of its best basketball against Wartburg College. That adage held true Wednesday evening, as the Norse and Knights were neck and neck throughout the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) contest. Unfortunately, a cold spell in the second half spelled doom for Luther. After leading 33-32 at the half, the Norse came up just short Wednesday evening, falling to rival Wartburg by a final score of 74-64. With the loss, Luther's overall record now stands at 1-5 and the team is 0-2 in A-R-C play.
BY THE NUMBERS
It was the makings of an epic game. The Regents Center was rocking from start to finish, as a rebel rousing crowd came to cheer on the Norse. The home crowd definitely gave Luther an advantage early in the game, as the Norse raced out to a 7-2 lead. However, the Knights offense eventually found its footing, as Wartburg tied the game at 7-7 before jumping out to an 11-7 advantage. The Knights would only add to their lead from there, taking a seemingly definitive 21-14 lead with 11:33 remaining in the half.
The Norse, though, chipped away at Wartburg's lead, cutting it to five points on a layup by Mikkel Shutte (Houston, Minn. / Pine Island) and eventually pulling within three on a layup by Ben Gill (Sydney, Australia / Newington). Myke Shed (Teague, Texas / Teague) gave the crowd what it had been waiting for all night, tying the game with a wide open three from the elbow to make it 21-21 and complete Luther's 7-0 run. From that point on, the two teams traded both buckets and leads, with the Norse holding a 33-32 lead at the half on a last minute layup by Andrew Lazinbat (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis).
Luther looked to add to its lead to open the second, as Daniel Webster (Plano, Texas / St. Ignatius) made it 35-32 just seconds into the half. However, the Norse could never gain an advantage of more than three points, which resulted in the two teams trading leads and ties for nearly 10 minutes of play. Around the eight minute mark, Luther's offense went cold, as neither the rim nor foul calls seemed to go in the team's favor. The drought allowed Wartburg to jump out to a 59-51 lead, as the Norse struggled to get any shots to actually fall through the hoop.
With under three minutes to go, Luther managed to cut the lead to 64-59, using a huge three from Aidan Bailey (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) to whittle the lead to two possessions. With under two minutes to go, Mat Rohden (Joinville, Brazil / Juan Deigo Catholic) cut it to 65-62, breathing life back into the Regents Center crowd. That unfortunately was as close as the Norse would come to catching the Knights. Despite tenacious play on defense, Luther was unable to mount a complete comeback, as the team fell 74-64 Wednesday evening.
TOP NORSE
- Junior Ben Gill (Sydney, Australia / Newington College) led the team in scoring for the second consecutive conference game, scoring 11 point son 5-7 shooting, with three rebounds, one block and one steal.
- Mikkel Schutte (Houston, Minn. / Pine Island) led the team with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals, while Daniel Webster(Plano, Texas / St. Ignatius) closed the game with a team-leading three assists, two blocks, two steals and seven points.
UP NEXT
Luther will return to action on Saturday, December 2, as the team travels to Lincoln, Nebraska for a 4:00 p.m tip off against Nebraska-Wesleyan University.
