CLU Succumbs to a Cold Touch, 63-61

They like to call their brand of basketball at Cal Lutheran “Lu ball.” The exact meaning of that term remained mostly a mystery Saturday night as did the Kingsmen’s shooting in a 63-61 loss to Point Loma Nazarene.

The Kingsmen should have known they were in a serious mess when Steve deLaveaga, the team’s leading scorer, missed his first five shots. His teammates caught on quickly enough, emulating the poor shooting performance and, ultimately, CLU had lost to its Golden State Athletic Conference rival,

In spite of themselves, the Kingsmen still had a chance to win after making a fast and furious comeback down the stretch. After trailing by as many as 12 points, CLU got back in the game when DeLaveaga found his shooting touch and the Crusaders started missing their free throws, including six of their last eight.

Darren Ranck’s three-pointer with 28 seconds left pulled the Kingsmen within one, 62-61. After Point Loma guard Greg Lanthier made a free throw, CLU’s Jeff Logsdon attempted a game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left, but his shot, like most of the others taken by CLU, missed badly.

“That shot didn’t feel good,” Logsdon said. “It never had a chance. Everybody was pressing tonight, though. We never did look smooth.”

Lu ball went flat.

DeLaveaga made only nine of 25 shots and as a team the Kingsmen shot 39%.

Cal Lutheran was fortunate to be close to Point Loma, let alone tied, 33-33, at halftime. The Kingsmen (8-12, 2-2 in conference) came out flat on offense and hacking away on defense.

CLU fired shots that seemed destined to do nothing but damage the basket. The Kingsmen did Darryl Dawkins proud, nearly shattering the glass--but with jump shots not slam dunks.

Even after DeLaveaga found his shooting touch, the offense moved the ball sluggishly and appeared to be in disarray.

Defensively, CLU’s strategy was to guard the Crusaders closely, foul if they had to, and either way, don’t be shy about it.

If Point Loma (13-6, 2-1) had made its free throws (the Crusaders made only 15 of 33), the game would have been a blowout.

“We were tentative,” explained DeLaveaga, who finished with 24 points. “It was mental. Now we have to just go on. If we let this bother us, we’ll be in a deep hole. We’ve just got to go out and keep shooting.”