Men's hoops take down No. 14 Cal Lutheran in home-opener

ORANGE, Calif. - In its home-opener, the Chapman University men's basketball team held on for an 80-74 win over No. 14 California Lutheran on Friday night at the Hutton Sports Center capturing the Panthers' first win over a ranked opponent in over 15 years.

For much of the game, neither team could take control as there were 17 lead-changes. With Cal Lutheran holding a two-point second half lead with 9:51 remaining, senior C Jared Kaiser completed a three-point play to give Chapman a 63-62 advantage. After a steal less than a minute later, senior G Kyle Wood followed with a three-point play of his own on a breakaway layup to push the score to 66-62. Cal Lutheran junior F Aaron Fisher narrowed Chapman's lead to 68-67 with a jumper at the 7:45 mark which is as close as the Kingsmen would get for the rest of the game.

With 1:45 remaining, Wood scored to give the Panthers a seven point lead at 75-68, the largest advantage for either team on the night. Down seven, Cal Lutheran pressured the Panthers into a couple of turnovers and narrowed the Chapman lead back to three after baskets by senior G Kyle Knudsen and sophomore F Aaron Van Klaveren. The Panthers then sealed the win with free throws by junior G Griffin Ramme and Kaiser.

In the first half, Cal Lutheran started the game with a 6-0 run. Chapman jumped ahead 11-10 when Kaiser scored the first two of his 17 points on the night. For the rest of the half, the two teams traded baskets with 14 of the 17 lead-changes coming before halftime. The Kingsmen held a 41-40 halftime lead as Fisher connected on a three-pointer with just seconds remaining. Chapman junior F Justin Riley paced the Panthers' offense in the first half as he scored 13 of his 19 points to go along with his game-high 10 rebounds.

Wood led the Panthers in scoring with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Cal Lutheran had four players in double-figures led by Knuden's 17 points and Van Klaveren's 14 points and nine rebounds.

After tonight's victory, the Panthers are just three wins shy of giving Coach Bokosky his 300^th win as the Panthers' head coach.

http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2009-10/stats/clu-cu.htm