The California Lutheran University Kingsmen basketball team (17-3, 10-1) extended its winning streak to eight games Wednesday night, defeating the University of La Verne Leopards (6-13, 1-9) by a score of 87-66 in Gilbert Arena. According to clusports.com, The Kingsmen held this streak until Saturday Feb. 8th when they fell to University of Redlands Bulldogs.
The game began in the Leopards’ favor due to a shot clock malfunction that resulted in a technical foul against the Kingsmen, which they were ultimately able to overcome. The Kingsmen held the lead for the majority of the first half. That is until the Leopards began to gain momentum with around eight minutes left on the game clock, leading to a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the half. Senior guard Nick Attanasio scored a 2-point jumper at the buzzer to end the first half and put the Kingsmen ahead 39-37.
In the second half, the Kingsmen were able to gain a stronghold of the lead and seal the victory, outscoring the Leopards 48-29.
“I am half-satisfied cause we played good for one half,” Head Coach Russell White said.
White said that “a lot of four-letter words” were going through his mind when the Leopards took control in the first half.
The Leopards possessed their biggest lead of the game, four points, over the Kingsmen with 1:24 left on the game clock in the first half.
“A lot of disgust, all the things that you shouldn’t be thinking as a coach,” White said.
Senior guard Devon Lewis, who was recently named Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Athlete of the Week for the fourth time this season, as well as Cal Lutheran Athlete of the Month for January, led the Kingsmen in scoring with 21 points.
“Today, we came out a little slow in the first half, had a lot of lazy turnovers, weren’t really locked in on our defensive principles, and then second half, we kinda turned around and locked into our defensive principles that ultimately got the dub,” Lewis said. “As far as my performance, just shout out my teammates for always trusting me with the ball, and shout out them for hitting shots whenever they need to hit shots.”
Senior guard Taj Regans scored 13 points, a personal season high, in the 13 minutes he was in the game. Regans also achieved personal season highs in four other categories: field goals made (5), field goal attempts (8), 3-point field goals made (3), and 3-point field goal attempts (5). Senior forward Tommy Griffitts also earned a personal season high, tallying 17 rebounds in the game.
“First, I’d like to shout out my teammates. They’ve been hooping all year and they’ve been doing a good job of just, you know, moving the ball, finding the open guys and executing,” Regans said. “Tonight just happened to be one of them nights where I was the guy in them spots that they were finding and, you know, I put in a lot of work on my shots, so tonight it was just going in.”
At halftime, senior Regals soccer defender Madie Fahey was presented with the January CalHOPE Courage Award by Director of Athletics Howard Davis and Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Matt Ward. Fahey was joined by her parents and Head Women’s Soccer Coach Frank Marino. According to the CalHOPE Courage Award website, this monthly award “honors student-athletes at California colleges and universities who have overcome the stress, anxiety, and mental trauma associated with personal hardships and adversity.”
The Kingsmen, who are now ranked No. 2 in the SCIAC and No. 20 in the nation, faced the No. 1 SCIAC and No. 19 nationally ranked Redlands Bulldogs (18-3, 10-2) at Currier Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 8. at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs beat the Kingsmen 77-65, extending their winning streak to seven games and snapping the Kingsmen’s streak of eight.
The Kingsmen will look to get back in the win column on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. when they travel to face the Occidental Tigers (8-12, 3-8).
