Justin Lunt is the kind of basketball coach who could stare at a chalkboard full of plays, or watch film, or even pore over league standings for hours, and wonder the cause for everything.
But in his heart of hearts, he knew his Puget Sound Loggers men’s basketball team was not a bring-up-the-rear kind of squad.
And for a night in Parkland, they played like the front-runners.
Paced by Derek Jobe’s torrid outside shooting, the Loggers stunned Pacific Lutheran, 76-60, at Olson Auditorium on Tuesday night.
The night belonged to UPS as a
whole. The Loggers women also won by 16 – 70-54.
Jobe, who scored 26 points, put dagger after dagger into any Lutes momentum with six timely 3-pointers. Rex Holmes added 16 as UPS avenged an earlier loss in Tacoma.
Cameron Schilling led the Lutes (5-15, 3-8 Northwest Conference) with 19 points – 15 coming in the first half as he carried the offense almost all by himself. Once he hit a dry spell, so did PLU, which basically saw any chances of making the postseason go out the window.
“I thought our guys did a great job of keeping their composure,” Lunt said, “and making shots difficult” for PLU.
Jobe sank two 3-pointers in the first 5:28 of the second half as the Loggers (7-13, 2-9) built a 50-40 lead.
“We played together, moved the ball and finally hit some shots,” said Jobe, a Rogers High product. “Coming in, I really tried to focus getting to the rim, and I got there a couple times early, and that gave me the confidence the whole game.”
Once UPS got the lead, it just never let up – even when the Lutes made a last-gasp bid by going on a 9-2 run to cut it to 63-55 with 3:58 remaining.
A minute later, Jobe sank the last of his 3-pointers from the right corner, finally putting it away.
“No one wants to be in last (place), but we just kind if looked at that as a reason to come out, have fun and play together,” Jobe said. “It took off the pressure in a way.”
Todd Milles: 253-597-8442 todd.milles@thenewstribune.com
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