Cal Lutheran Rallies Past Cal Baptist

Nothing much was going right for Cal Lutheran in the NAIA District III basketball playoffs.

The Kingsmen expected to win the Golden State Athletic Conference title and earn a home berth for their first-round game Tuesday night.

Instead, Cal Lutheran finished in a three-way tie for second place and played its first-round game before a rowdy, raucous crowd at Cal Baptist.

Worst of all, Lancer forward Tim Skellenger found the range early on his three-point shots.

But Cal Lutheran overcame all the odds--and a 21-point deficit in the first half--to defeat Cal Baptist, 86-79.

Junior Steve deLaveaga scored a game-high 28 points, including four in the final minute, to pace the Kingsmen. Cal Lutheran, seeded sixth, plays top-seeded Biola in a second-round game at Whittier College at 6 p.m. Saturday.

DeLaveaga’s basket with 45 seconds to play put Cal Lutheran ahead, 80-77. Barry Deckard, who led the Lancers with 23 points, broke through and scored on a driving layup to bring Cal Baptist within a point.

But Mike Miller and Jeff Logsdon both made clutch free throws for Cal Lutheran and deLaveaga made a pair from the line in the final 10 seconds to clinch the win.

Cal Lutheran Coach Larry Lopez credited the play of Miller, who scored 10 points after coming off the bench, and deLaveaga for leading the comeback.

“Miller was really tough tonight for a guy who didn’t have any minutes the first few games,” Lopez said.

Another key was the Kingsmen defense, which held Skellenger to seven points in the pivotal second half.

“We did not adjust to Skellenger like we had planned to and that hurt us in the first half,” Lopez said. “But we did for the rest of the game.”

Cal Lutheran (16-13) needed to adjust to Skellenger or face its second loss to Cal Baptist in four days. The Lancers’ 71-62 over CLU in its final regular-season game cost the Kingsmen a share of the GSAC title.

Skellenger scored a game-high 26 points in that meeting, connecting on 8 of 14 three-point shots.

“Losing that last game was a big disappointment,” Lopez said. “We were hoping to win conference and hang up a banner.”

In Tuesday’s game, Cal Baptist threatened to blow out the Kingsmen in the first half. Led by Skellenger’s 15 points, the Lancers built a 36-15 lead in the first 15 minutes.

Cal Lutheran rallied at that point, scoring 14 unanswered points in a three-minute span to cut the lead to seven, 36-29. Logsdon led the Kingsmen comeback with two consecutive three-point shots and deLaveaga forced two steals during the brief scoring burst.

Skellenger halted the rally with a three-point shot, the last of his five in the first half, to put Cal Baptist ahead, 39-29, with 2:01 remaining. The Kingsmen cut the Lancer lead to 41-34 at halftime, outscoring their host, 19-5, in the final 5:01.

With 13:17 left in the game, Cal Lutheran had erased the 21-point first-half deficit. DeLaveaga scored a layup after a steal to tie the score, 52-52. Darren Ranck then made a three-point shot to give the Kingsmen their first lead.

Cal Lutheran, which has won 5 of its past 6 games, extended its lead in the final 10 minutes and protected it down the stretch.

The Kingsmen shot 56% and converted 17 of 19 free throws (89.4%). Five Cal Lutheran players scored in double figures, including Blake Miraglia (17), Ranck (13) and Logsdon, who scored 11 points and dished off a game-high 8 assists.

Biola (27-3), ranked ninth in the NAIA national poll, is another formidable challenge. The Eagles opened the season 17-0.