Cal Lutheran Goes Under to Claremont in Overtime

The thrill of potential victory turned into the agony of defeat in a matter of seconds for Cal Lutheran in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball game against Claremont-Mudd on Saturday night.

Dave Ulloa hit a 15-foot jump shot to give Cal Lutheran a one-point lead with seven seconds left in overtime, but after a timeout, Claremont-Mudd got the ball to Joe Whitlach, who sank a three-point shot with one second left to give the Stags a 72-70 victory and sole possession of first place in the SCIAC standings.

Whitlach, a 6-foot-4 junior who had 23 points, sent the game into overtime by making two free throws with two seconds left in regulation, and was all alone when he launched the game-winner.

“We made a mistake,” Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Rider said. “He got free. But we made mistakes in the first half too. One mistake doesn’t cost you a game.”

The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for host Cal Lutheran (14-5, 6-2 in conference play) and was particularly disappointing because the Kingsmen led, 64-59, with 1:03 left in regulation after trailing by 11 points early in the second half and by 16 in the first half.

“We made a good run at them in the second half, but we couldn’t maintain the lead or hold them off,” Rider said. “I told them you have to take the good with the bad. We’ve had some big wins this season.”

Ulloa, who had 26 points, hit three consecutive three-point shots in the second half to send the Kingsmen on a 18-6 run that Rob Beckerley capped with a three-pointer to give Cal Lutheran a 46-45 lead with 11:01 left.

Ulloa hit another three-pointer with 9:03 remaining to break a 49-49 tie and the Kingsmen extended their advantage to 62-55 with 3:35 left before Claremont-Mudd (13-6, 7-1) mounted its comeback.

Whitlach hit two free throws with 3:11 left to cut the Stags’ deficit to 62-57 and added two more with 2:17 remaining to trim Cal Lutheran’s lead to 62-59.

Andy Saint, who had 16 points, 13 rebounds and five steals, scored on a follow shot of his own miss to give the Kingsmen a 64-59 lead, but Darren Gravley hit a three-pointer with 52 seconds left to cut the lead to 64-62.

Cal Lutheran trailed, 35-27, at halftime after going on a 16-8 run to end the first 20-minute period.

The Kingsmen missed 24 of their first 27 shots before Ulloa scored their next 10 points on two three-point shots, a layup and a jumper.