ORANGE, Calif. - On the road Wednesday night, the Cal Lutheran men's basketball team ran into the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) first place team and dropped an 87-72 matchup to Chapman inside the Hutton Sports Center.

The Kingsmen kept it close in the first half, trailing only 44-39 at the break but the Panthers began the second half on a 22-9 run to pull away. CLU could never make up any ground as the Chapman offense was firing on all cylinders and finished the game shooting 61.1 percent (33-for-54) from the field and 50 percent (6-for-12) from beyond the arc.

Offensive Highlights: Freshman Justin Kam led the Violet and Gold in scoring with 14 points of the bench, and his classmate Austin Cole tallied 13 on 5-of-9 shooting and 3-of-5 from three-point territory. Jeremy Sulker-Hall also reached double figures with 10 points. Coby de Laveaga led the team with three assists while Cole and Dan Wade each dished out two.

Defensive Highlights: On the glass, Connor McGuire led the team once again with eight rebounds including two on the offensive end. Sulker-Hall swiped two steals and Kam and Wade each had one.

Opponent: The Panthers were led by James Taylor who poured in a game-high 22 points and tallied a double-double with 10 rebounds. Luke Hamlin had a strong all-around game with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Notables: Since breaking into the starting lineup, Cole has scored in double figure in three of his last four games.

Cal Lutheran (9-12, 5-9 SCIAC) has two games remaining on its schedule and will play its final home game on Monday, Feb. 22 against Occidental at 7:30 p.m. Prior to tip-off, seniors Lanaki Apele, McGuire, Wade and Sulker-Hall will be recognized.

Box Score: CU 87, CLU 72
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
CLU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports
CLU Instagram: http://instagram.com/clusports#