THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team was without two of their leading scorers once again Saturday night and California Lutheran University capitalized winning 100-90 handing the Bulldogs their second loss within Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play.
Redlands was unable to overcome a slow start and foul trouble as they drop to 14-5, 8-2 SCIAC. They now sit in a tie for 2nd place within the conference standings with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps as Pomona-Pitzer jumps into sole possession of first.
First-year guard Cameron Brown (Bakersfield, CA) led the Bulldogs scoring a career-high 34 points. Over his last six games he has scored over 100 points, four of which were 20-point contests. His 34 points came on 13-of-19 shooting (68.4 percent) along with seven rebounds, four steals (Tied for Career High), two assists, and two blocks.
Nathaniel Johnson (Seattle, WA) and Robert Power (Pacific Palisades, CA) were the other two Bulldogs in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Johnson also had six rebounds. Khyree Armstead (Mountlake Terrace, WA) despite not hitting double figures added a strong stat line of nine points on 4-of-9 shooting with six rebounds, three assists and a steal.
The opening three minutes saw the Bulldogs and Kingsmen deadlocked on three occasions. Redlands jumped in front, 10-9, at the 16:06 mark thanks to a Sam Abere (Lake Oswego, OR) layup.
CLU then held a pair of three-point advantages until Power made a three off an Armstead assist. Armstead then gave UR the lead a minute later as Power and Armstead reversed roles as Power got the assist on the Armstead layin.
With 10:20 on the clock Khair Jackson (Canoga Park, CA) came alive with a triple after converting a pair of free throws on the previous possession as he gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at five, 24-19.
Redlands continued to play well as they responded to a quick run from CLU that got them within one, by scoring on back-to-back possessions thanks to Brown and Gunner Wooden (Canton, MI).
Over the final 7:42 of the half, though, the Bulldogs fell out of rhythm on both ends of the court, allowing 25 points, while scoring four themselves, trailing the Kingsmen at the break by 16, 49-33.
Out of the break the Bulldogs came out sharp and pulled within 12, 51-39, just over two minutes into the second half thanks to a 6-2 run.
The next few minutes saw the Kingsmen stabilize themselves as the closest the Bulldogs got was 11, on three different occasions, the last coming on a pair of Johnson free throws that made it 56-45.
The deficit grew 19, 72-53 with 10:26 left. Thirteen unanswered would give UR a spark to cut the lead down to six, 72-66, with 7:46 still to play. Brown scored nine of the Bulldogs 13 points with Abere and Cal Hansen (Burien, WA) each with two.
With 6:46 on the clock Brown made a layup off an Abere assist to get Redlands within four, their smallest deficit since trailing by four, 33-29, with just over four minutes to play in the first half.
Brown continued his big night with a steal and a fastbreak layup with 3:05 remaining to make it a five-point game, 86-81, after they trailed by double digits, a couple minutes prior.
Despite the fight, the Bulldogs would get no closer than those five points as they dropped their first road game since losing at East Texas Baptist back on December 15. Redlands shot an impressive 50.7% from the field, 21.4% from deep and 70.4% from the free throw line. They were outrebounded by one 35-34, allowed CLU to score 23 points off 15 turnovers and despite outscoring the Kingsmen 56-44 in the paint surrendered 22 fastbreak points.
Redlands will stay on the road with a trip to Pasadena, CA to face Caltech this Wednesday, February 1 at 7:00 p.m.