THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Two days removed from a title at the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Tournament the Cal Lutheran men's basketball team returned to action in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action against La Verne, falling 64-57 to the Leopards, marking just the second program loss of the season.
Cal Lutheran's seven-game win-streak was snapped by La Verne as the Leos put an end to a six-game skid of their own. The lead changed hands three times, but the Kingsmen were flat from the start and had just a one-point advantage at the 19:14 mark before LV took control.
At halftime, Cal Lutheran trailed for only the second time of the year. The first was at Pomona-Pitzer in the SCAIC opener, the only other CLU defeat of 2013-14. Tonight the first home loss of the season for the Kingsmen and was also the lowest point total of the season for the team.
In the opening half the home team got a spark from Arik Smith who took the Kingsmen on his back, scoring nine consecutive points with a three-pointer, a pair of jumpers and a layup to get the Cal Lutheran within striking distance at 16-12 with 10:26 to play in the first. The hot-shooting Leopards knocked down 60 percent of their shots in the opening frame and led by 13 points, 33-20, at the intermission.
La Verne continued to produce offensively, opening a gap as large as 15 points, while CLU struggled to find a rhythm.
Cal Lutheran got the ball to start the second half and quickly the Kingsmen got back into the game with three consecutive buckets from Coltrane Powdrill, who scored more than half of Cal Lutheran's second half points, finishing with a game-high 22. The second bucket of the run came after Corey Quintana recorded a block and Guy Lynott recovered the loose ball for a rebound. Smith would pull CLU within five at 55-48 on a three-pointer at 4:22 and again the Kingsmen were back within a pair of possessions at 56-50 on Powdrill jumper with just over three minutes to play. La Verne would convert back-to-back buckets to push the advantage back to 10, though CLU made a late push.
With just 12 seconds to go Jeremy Sulker-Hall scored the final basket of the night for the Kingsmen to again close the gap to six, but it was too little too late.
In the end La Verne (4-6) shot 52.4 percent from the floor with a 16-for-23 showing at the charity stripe led by Ronn See who scored 18 points followed by Weston Newell with 15 and Niall Harrison with 10. Harrison and See shared the team-lead for rebounds with five apiece and See added both a team-high three assists and two steals. Evan Roberts recorded a pair of blocks tonight for the Leopards as well.
A poor free-throw shooting night of 9-for-19 hurt Cal Lutheran. Overall the Violet and Gold shot just 41.8 percent from the field, though they did out rebound the Leopards 33-28 with 12 offensive boards that they converted into nine points.
Joining Powdrill in double figures were Smith and Sulker-Hall with 14 and 13, respectively. Powdrill also led all players with seven rebounds. Quintana, who was limited to just a single point, grabbed six boards and had a pair of blocks. Lynott and Collin Knudsen had three assists apiece and both Lynott and Smith came up with a pair of steals.
Cal Lutheran (10-2, 1-2 SCIAC) will be back at the Gilbert Arena on Saturday, Jan. 4 for a 5:00 p.m. tip-off with Occidental in the front end of a double header with the Tigers.
Box Score: ULV 64, CLU 57
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