Slow Start Trips Chapman This Time

The Chapman men’s basketball team has been a slow starter this season, but the Panthers have been able to pull out most games by being more tenacious than their opponents.

But Tuesday, Chapman started too slow and Cal Lutheran proved too tough in an 87-71 victory at the Hutton Center.

Cal Lutheran’s tight man-to-man defense flustered Chapman early and the Kingsmen (4-1) led by as many as 20 points in the first half.

During one stretch, Chapman turned the ball over on five consecutive and six of seven possessions. That made it relatively easy for the Kingsmen to make a 15-2 run that eventually turned into a 23-4 streak.

Chapman Coach Mike Bokosky said he blames himself for his team’s inability to handle the man-to-man pressure.

“I should have gotten them ready for it,” he said. “And we were ready for it. We just weren’t ready to handle pressure from that caliber of a team.”

Chapman cut the deficit to 11 at the half and got as close as eight points in the second half, but Cal Lutheran, expected to battle for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title, had a response for every Panther run.

Bokosky tried to counter Cal Lutheran’s intensity advantage by playing only six of his most tenacious players after the 15 minute mark of the second half. But Jim Falletta (17 points, 13 rebounds), Toby Curto (15 points), Pete Sverkos (12 points, six assists), Umahl Anderson (10 points), Larry Nagata (one point) and Mark LaBelle (one point) couldn’t reel the Kingsmen in.