Cal Lutheran Finds Touch in the 2nd Half, Tops Occidental

Occidental College and Cal Lutheran University brought out the brick and mortar and tried to add a new room to the Occidental gymnasium Saturday night.

Cal Lutheran shot a miserable 28% from the field in the first half, and Occidental countered with 35% in the second half as the two teams looked like they were doing their best to rebuild the Berlin Wall.

The Kingsmen finally found the range in the second half and pulled away from Occidental in the late going for a 93-76 nonconference victory.

“Our shooting in the first half was brutal,” admitted CLU Coach Mike Dunlap. “We got great shots, but they didn’t go down.”

At one point in the first half, after CLU (11-12) had missed 24 of its first 30 shots, Dunlap yelled to his team, “There’s enough bricks out there to build a house.”

Surprisingly, one of the Kingsmen’s chief bricklayers in the first half was guard Jeff deLaveaga, who averages 28 points. DeLaveaga missed his first five attempts and was just one of six in the first half. He finished six of 16 and scored 28 points, high for the game, and sank 14 of 16 free throws.

“I started off a little cold,” deLaveaga said. “I was pretty anxious. I wanted this win pretty bad.”

The Kingsmen, who were defeated earlier this season by Occidental (14-10), trailed most of the first half and were down 10 points at one juncture. But despite their poor shooting, they were able to tie the game, 27-27, on two free throws by Kevin Richberg.

Cal Lutheran, which forced 12 Occidental turnovers in the first half and 21 overall, held the Tigers to 42% shooting in the first half and led, 36-34, at intermission.

The Kingsmen steadily pulled away in the second half, in which deLaveaga scored 21 points. He got plenty of help from forward Simon O’Donnell, an Australian native, who scored 23 points and grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.

Of course, on this night, there were plenty of rebounds to go around.

Ryan Cartnal led Occidental with 24 points before fouling out with 37 seconds to play. He was one of three Tiger players to foul out.

Sandy Brown added 14 points and nine rebounds for Occidental, which converted 38% of its shots in the game.

Cal Lutheran, which will join Occidental in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Assn. next season, shot 51% in the second half and 39% for the game.