THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team (17-3, 9-2 SCIAC) faced a second consecutive double-digit second half deficit Saturday afternoon at California Lutheran University (CLU), but unlike Wednesday against Chapman University, the Bulldogs were unable to complete the comeback losing by 12, 82-70.
It took the Bulldogs a couple of minutes to get into the flow of the game, but after allowing the first two points, they scored the next six thanks to buckets from Lucas Gordon (San Marcos, CA) and Jake Hlywiak (Valencia, CA) followed by a pair of free throws by Jhace Boston (Bakersfield, CA) putting UR up four after three minutes of play.
The Kingsmen, though, scored the next six to go back in front, 8-6, less than two minutes later. Boston would respond by finding an open Hlywiak for a triple and on the following offensive possession Nathan Mattera (Fontana, CA) found Hlywiak from deep once again to make it a 12-10 game after only five minutes of action.
With the game tied at 16-16 after an Omari Ferguson (Chicago, Ill.)-assisted, Gordon dunk, CLU would go on a 12-2 run going in front by double digits, 28-18, with just over eight minutes remaining in the opening half.
The Bulldogs cut the deficit to as few as seven but trailed by 20 with a minute and a half left. Hlywiak and Ferguson, however, cut it down to 16 at the break thanks to back to back connections.
Gordon and Hlywiak extended the first half run to 8-0 moving the deficit to a manageable 12, 48-36, inside of two minutes played in the second half.
CLU pushed the lead to 15 before an offensive rebound by Boston set up Derek Sangster (Sunnyvale, CA) inside for a layup for the first of nine unanswered by Redlands pulling them within single digits for the first time since the 8:49 mark of the first half. During the run Boston led the way with five points to make it a 54-48 game with 12:55 to go.
Another Hlywiak three with 4:24 on the clock pulled the Bulldogs the closest they had been in more than 25 minutes, but the Kingsmen responded with a layup and started a two-minute stretch where they scored 12 points extending their lead to 12, 75-63, with only 2:06 remaining.
CLU stopped another late Redlands rally with two field goals in the final :27 seconds as they pulled off the win.
Hlywiak had another big game with 20 points thanks to a plus 50 percent shooting mark and four three-pointers. Boston had 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, while Gordon posted a double-double with 12 and 12.
Redlands remains on the road for a match-up with the University of La Verne next Wednesday, February 4 beginning at 7:00 p.m.
