Despite Loss, Cal Lutheran Wins, 71-64

For the second year in a row, the Cal Lutheran men’s basketball team opened Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play without one of its key players, but this time the loss could be devastating.

Although Cal Lutheran defeated visiting Redlands, 71-64, on Wednesday night, the Kingsmen will be hard pressed to make up for the loss of Derrick Clark, who signed a contract to play professionally in Australia earlier in the week.

Last year, freshman swingman Jason Smith missed the first six games of SCIAC play with a knee injury before returning to help Cal Lutheran to a share of its third consecutive title, but Clark and his team-high averages of 20.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game are gone for good.

Clark, a 6-foot-4 senior forward who was granted an extra season of eligibility under the NCAA’s medical-hardship waiver, stunned first-year Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Rider and his teammates Tuesday when he announced that he was heading Down Under to play professionally.

“At first, we were just really shocked,” center Paul LaMott said. “And then we were really upset. But we had a team breakfast today and just decided that we had to win without him.”

LaMott, a 6-6 senior, played a big role in the Kingsmen’s victory as he had game-high totals of 22 points and nine rebounds. He made nine of 11 shots from the field.

Dave Ulloa added 15 points--including 12 in the second half--as Cal Lutheran (8-4) posted its fourth victory in a row.

“I think we were really nervous and uptight during the first half and it showed,” Rider said. “We were rushing our shots. We just had to calm down, but I don’t think we did that until about halfway through the second half.”

The Kingsmen trailed, 43-41, early in the second half before going on a 14-4 run to take a 55-47 lead with 10 minutes to play. Ulloa started the run with his fourth three-point shot of the game and Christian Dunbar capped it when he scored on a reverse layup.

Redlands (6-6) cut its deficit to 55-51, but Cal Lutheran went on a 10-2 streak to take a 65-53 lead with two minutes remaining.

“This is a huge win for us,” LaMott said. “This sets the tone for the rest of the week and hopefully we can build on it.”