Three-Point Barrage Lifts Kingsmen Past Sagehens

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Cal Lutheran tied a season-high with nine three-pointers and Arik Smith scored 26 points as the Kingsmen earned a crucial 74-61 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) victory over Pomona-Pitzer Saturday evening. With the win, third place Cal Lutheran improves to 7-4 in the conference and moves to within two games of the Sagehens (9-2 SCIAC).

Trailing by one coming out of halftime, Cal Lutheran scored on 10 of its first 11 possessions to start the second half. Corey Quintana sunk a three-pointer on Cal Lutheran’s first possession and then Smith and Guy Lynott hit jumpers on the next two trips down the court to give CLU a 41-37 lead.

After being held scoreless in the first half Coltrane Powdrill scored five straight points to push the Kingsmen’s lead to 46-39. Cal Lutheran would continue to swell its lead to 14 at 57-43 after Smith nailed a three and a jump-shot on back-to-back possessions.

CLU would see its lead grow to as large as 15 in the second half before salting the game away by finishing the game 13-of-14 from the free-throw line.

The first half was more of a back-and-forth affair. Pomona-Pitzer used a variety of lob passes into the post to race out to a 25-19 lead at the 6:07 mark before Cal Lutheran began its three-point barrage. Following a three-point play from Smith, Quintana sank a shot from beyond the arc to tie the game at 25.

The Sagehens would score five straight-points to go back up at 30-25 but Cal Lutheran would hit three-pointers on three-straight possessions including two from Smith and one from Michael Palmer to take the lead at 34-32.

Pomona-Pitzer would regain the lead inside of a minute of the first half when Gibson Farone Collins sank a three-pointer and no team would score the rest of the way, allowing the Sagehens a 35-34 advantage at half-time.

Joining Smith in double figures was Quintana, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Powdrill scored all 11 of his points in his second half and finished with five rebounds. Collin Knudsen and Dan Wade each had six points while Lynott hauled in six rebounds.

Jake Klewer led the Sagehens with 15 points while Michael Cohen chipped in with 12 and Farone Collins had 11.

With the loss, Pomona-Pitzer drops to 14-6 overall and 9-2 in the SCIAC.

Cal Lutheran (16-4 overall, 7-4 SCIAC) will look to continue its ascent up the SCIAC standing when it hosts Caltech on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Tip-off with the Beavers is set for 7:30 p.m. inside of Gilbert Arena.

Box Score: CLU 74 PP 61
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