Cal Lutheran Makes It Look Easy This Time, 83-62

No one, including Cal Lutheran Coach Mike Dunlap could have expected it.

With 1 minute 46 seconds left in Saturday night’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball playoff game between the Kingsmen and Pomona-Pitzer, Dunlap had the luxury of emptying his bench as Cal Lutheran was on its way to an 83-62 victory at Occidental College.

The victory was the fourth in a row for the Kingsmen (24-2) and guaranteed them a third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs, which start this week.

Pomona-Pitzer (19-7), which tied Cal Lutheran for the SCIAC title during the regular season and beat the Kingsmen, 85-76, in overtime Feb. 16, has to hope for an at-large berth when the Division III playoff pairings are announced today.

“Our defense did a great job tonight,” Dunlap said. “Our offense hit a few dry spells, but they were not able to capitalize when we did and that’s because the Cal Lu defense did its job.”

Pomona-Pitzer hit 29 of 51 shots in its victory over the Kingsmen, but made only 19 of 55 this time.

Although Cal Lutheran shot a ho-hum 44.8% (30 of 67), that was a dramatic improvement over the last game between these teams, when the Kingsmen made only 36.0% (27 of 75) of their shots.

Leading, 46-37, early in the second half, Cal Lutheran went on an 8-0 surge to take a 54-37 lead with 12:55 left.

Pomona-Pitzer scored five consecutive points to narrow its deficit to 54-42 with 11 1/2 minutes remaining, but Jason Smith hit two three-point shots and Dave Ulloa sank a short jump shot from the left side on an assist from Damon Ridley to give Cal Lutheran a 62-42 lead with 9:11 left.

“Jason Smith is starting to play like he did earlier in the season and that’s a big plus for this team,” Dunlap said. “He’s still only at about 90%, but that’s better than a lot of players at 100.”

Smith, a 6-5 freshman from Australia who missed the first seven games of SCIAC play with a bone chip on his left knee--an injury that will require surgery after the season--had 12 points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal in 25 minutes.

Ridley had 19 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals for the Kingsmen while Rupert Sapwell added 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots.

Travis Greer had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Pomona-Pitzer.