Fly By Knights

Tuesday, December 16

San Francisco, CA

7:30 PM

California Baptist University

2-08-1/ PacWest

Academy of Art

1-13-5/ PacWest

OT 1

California Baptist

Academy of Art University

Photo by: Lauren Garcia

12/16/2014 9:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sammi Sheppard, Director of Sports Information

SAN FRANCISCO — No. 16-ranked California Baptist University opened its three-game PacWest road trip with a hard-fought battle Tuesday night. The Lancers had to come from behind and force overtime to grab a 76-74 win over Academy of Art.

The Lancers improve to 8-1 overall and keep their conference record unblemished at 2-0. The Urban Knights—who had a full 10 days of rest leading up to the contest—drop to 3-5 on the season and 1-1 in the PacWest.

Keeping his streak of scoring in double-digits hot, Ryan Berg finished the night with a game-high 21 points on 8-for-19 shooting, 4-for-9 from beyond the arc. Gelaun Wheelwright followed with 19 points (7-for-14). Taj Spencer ended with 12 points (5-for-13), while Trevone Williams rounded out the quartet with 10 points (5-for-11).

As a team, the Lancers out-rebounded the Urban Knights 58-to-44, led by Michael Smith's 12 boards.

Tied at 10-10 to open the game, ArtU scored five unanswered points to take the first multiple possession lead of the night. CBU fought right back, however, as Spencer hit a jumper and drew a foul in the process for a three-point play. Seconds later, he laid the ball in the bucket to even the score once more at 17-17.

CBU took its own five-point cushion of the night on a 6-1 run capped by a Wheelwright three-pointer. The Lancers continued to press, walking into halftime with a 34-26 upper hand.

With lots of basketball left to play, the Urban Knights battled back to even the score at 58-58 with 5:50 left to play.

Despite trying to keep the Urban Knights at bay, CBU had to put up a battle heading down the stretch as the home team took a 62-59 lead with just about four minutes remaining on the clock. Chris Brown put the Lancers within one by banking a shot off the backboard and Spencer grabbed a much-needed defensive rebound to put CBU back on the attack.

Trailing 67-63, Berg sank a crucial three to put the Lancers back within one at 67-66 with 6.1 seconds remaining as head coach Rick Croy called a timeout. CBU sent an Urban Knight to the line, and the player made one of his two shots to put the score at 68-66. Determined to not go down without a fight, Wheelwright sent a jump shot on target, finding nothing but net to tie the game and send it into overtime.

ArtU scored the first points in overtime, but CBU answered right back to tie the game at 70-70. Eric Hunt snagged a defensive rebound to put the Lancers back on the attack, allowing Smith to give the visitors a two-point lead.

The Urban Knights scored to tie things for the last time before Wheelwright sealed the victory by driving to the basket just seconds before the buzzer sounded.

There's not much rest for the weary as CBU turns around Thursday to face Dominican at 7:30 p.m. The Lancers then conclude 2014 with a 3:00 p.m. tip off Saturday at Notre Dame de Namur.