THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Cal Lutheran men's basketball (6-4, 1-1 SCIAC) defeated Hardin-Simmons (8-8, 0-0 ASC) at home on Tuesday afternoon with four clutch free-throws from Matthew Verkamp sealing the 60-56 victory. Verkamp finished with 22 points to lead all scorers.

The Cowboys got off to a fast start after back-to-back dunks made it 8-2 early in the first half. Hardin-Simmons put together a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 18-6 at the 12-minute mark, as Cal Lutheran was struggling to score. Three-straight fastbreak buckets by the Kingsmen, including two threes from Verkamp, brought them back into the game and cut the deficit to 20-18.

Still, Hardin-Simmons continued to find answers and stretched its lead back up to nine just a few minutes later. Cal Lutheran managed to score 10 of the opening half's final 12 points to enter the break down 31-30. Ze'ev Remer and Tony Angelo each provided two assists over that span.

Cal Lutheran came out firing in the second half, scoring the period's first 10 points as a deep-ball and a jumper from Aidan Crawford put the Kingsmen up 40-31. Remer found Cade Collins for a layup at the 12-minute mark to end an almost 5-minute scoring drought for both teams. After over 10 minutes of action in the second half, Hardin-Simmons had scored just three points.

At the 9:46 mark, Ryder Mjoen rolled in a layup off a dish from Angelo to give the Kingsmen their largest lead of the game, 46-34. Then, the Cowboys suddenly caught fire and eventually retook the lead 54-52 with under four minutes to play.

Remer found Collins again to quickly tie the game back at 54, and then Remer collected another assist after setting up a Verkamp layup to give Cal Lutheran a 2-point lead. Hardin-Simmons hit a pair of free throws to tie it at 56 before the two teams traded a few empty possessions.

With under 30 seconds remaining, Verkamp skied for a defensive rebound and was fouled immediately after possessing the ball. He sank both foul-shots in the one-and-one before securing a crucial steal on defense to prevent the Cowboys from an attempt at responding. Verkamp was fouled again, and he calmly knocked in the pair of free throws to give Cal Lutheran the 60-56 victory.

Verkamp scored a game-high 22 points (8/15 FG, 2/4 3FG, 4/4 FT) and collected three steals on the defensive end. Remer recorded a game-high nine assists in a quality effort running the offense for Cal Lutheran. Angelo, standing at 5'10", led his team in rebounds with eight. He added four assists and two steals.

The Kingsmen will look to remain in the win column when they host Amherst tomorrow at 3pm.