Marching with the Saints

Saturday, November 25

Riverside, Calif.

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

6-1

Saint Martin's

5-1

Saint Martin's

California Baptist

Photo by: Conner Schuh

Marching with the Saints

11/25/2017 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In its last game before conference action begins, No. 7-ranked California Baptist University faced some adversity and battled it out to the very end, but came up just short of a 93-88 loss to Saint Martin's.

The Lancers drop to 6-1 on the year, while the Saints improve to 5-1.

Kalidou Diouf led all scorers with 19 points (7-for-10) and added two blocks and a steal. Jason Todd followed with 15 points (5-for-7), while De'jon Davis chipped in 13 points (3-for-5) and Cory Lange contributed 12 points. Bul Kuol (3-for-5) and Jordan Heading were each one point shy of double figures, posting nine points on the night.

Ty Rowell moved the ball around extremely well for the Lancers, finishing with a career-high eight assists.

The Lancers, who rank second in all of NCAA Division II in rebounding margin, continued their dominant ways off the glass and out-rebounded the Saints 37-to-28. Todd finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds, while Kuol added five boards.

CBU opened on a 4-0 spurt off back-to-back layups from Diouf, but the Saints came marching back and grabbed a 14-7 lead to start a back-and-forth battle between the two teams.

Down 17-15, Todd drove to the basket to even the game up, before triples from Rowell and Matt Hubbard put the Lancers in front, 23-17.

The lead would change three times – including 11 ties – in the half with SMU going into the break with a three-point lead, 44-41.

CBU came out of the break looking to limit the Saints' chances from the perimeter and take back its lead. Todd swished in a trey from the corner before Heading stole the ball away on the next possession and laid it in, 46-45.

The game remained close, with neither team leading by more than two possessions for the first five minutes of the half.

Down by eight, 64-56, Diouf muscled his way to the basket and drew a foul. He rattled in the extra shot to round the play up to three and put CBU within five, 64-59.

With under eight minutes remaining, CBU struck fire. Down 71-67, Diouf was sent to the charity stripe on back-to-back possessions and finished three of his four chances to put the Lancers within reach, 71-70.

SMU tried to keep the Lancers at bay and scored on its next possession, but Todd drained a three to even the score at 73-73.

Intensity built as the Saints took back a three-point lead, but Davis came up with a big block, leading to a Todd three-pointer to tie the game back at 76-76 and force an SMU timeout.

Coming out of the break, momentum was building for the Lancers as Davis boxed out with authority and drew a foul in the process, finishing both his shots at the line to put CBU up 78-76 heading down the stretch.

It looked like it might come down to the wire as neither team was willing to let the other get too much of an advantage.

Kuol hit a three with just 15 seconds left on the clock to put the game back within a possession, 91-88, and CBU had to foul to try to get the ball back. SMU missed both chances, but CBU couldn't find a shot from the perimeter to fall. The Saints were awarded two more free throws before time expired to take the game 93-88.

The Lancers hit the road for the first time this season to open PacWest action, heading to Hawaii for two games. CBU first takes on Hawai'i Hilo on Nov. 30 at 9:30 p.m. PDT, before switching islands to take on Chaminade on Dec. 2, also at 9:30 p.m. PDT.