The University of Redlands men's basketball team traveled to Cal Lutheran University for last night's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) showdown, hoping to make it three in a row against the Kingsmen during the 2009-10 season. Despite defeating them at the Lee Fulmer Tournament in December and earning a solid 71-52 victory at home in January, the Bulldogs came up short for the season sweep and suffered a 72-84 loss in Thousand Oaks.

Combined with the other results around the conference, the Bulldogs remain in a tie for second place with Occidental College but now hold only a one-game lead over the two teams in fourth place. This makes the final games of the regular season even more critical in determining the team's fate for competing in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

In last night's showdown, the Bulldogs battled with the Kingsmen through the first ten minutes but quickly gave up a 13-point lead with 8:34 to go.

Redlands never regained control and faced a 16-point deficit at the break.

Despite out-scoring their opponents by four points in the second period, the Maroon and Gray succumbed to Cal Lu's 93.3% showing at the free-throw line, where it converted 28 of its 30 opportunities. Redlands went to the line only 17 times while mustering an impressive 82.4% performance.

The Bulldogs pulled down four more boards than the Kingsmen, including a difference of six on the offensive end.

Cal Lutheran (13-10, 7-5 SCIAC) shot 53.7% from the field, compared to Redlands' display of 47.3%.

The Maroon and Gray looked to a well-balanced attack that was led by junior center Jordan Sanvictores (Redwood City, CA) with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting. Senior guard Pat Coffey (San Carlos, CA) chipped in nine points while junior guard Kent Ervin (Bend, OR) added eight points and five assists. Ten other Bulldogs posted at least two points in the defeat.

Redlands (12-11, 8-4 SCIAC) heads to Occidental (16-7, 8-4 SCIAC) for Saturday's important SCIAC match-up at 7:30 p.m.