Battle Tested Lancers Prevail

Wednesday, December 19

Baton Rouge, La.

12:30 PM

California Baptist University

7-5

Southern University

1-11

California Baptist

Southern University

Battle Tested Lancers Prevail

12/19/2018 3:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Mike Minyard, Assoc. AD for External Relations

Baton Rouge, La. – California Baptist made key plays down the stretch to defeat Southern University, 79-76, on Wednesday afternoon. CBU (7-5) has won five of its last six contests, while playing eight of the last 11 games away from home.

Sophomore Milan Acquaah and junior De'jon Davis led the way for the Lancers. Acquaah finished with 25 points and eight rebounds while Davis posted 16 points and nine rebounds.

Southern controlled the game early, taking a 10-point lead as a jumper from Alex Ennis made it 24-14 with 10:46 in the first half. The Lancers took charge from there and outpaced the Jaguars 27-12 to finish out the half with a 41-36 advantage.

CBU would lead by as many as nine points in the second half after Ty Rowell converted a free throw to make it 54-45 with 13:11 left on the clock. Southern responded by going on a 16-7 run to re-take the lead with a pair of free throws by Aaron Ray with 4:33 remaining. The Lancers bounced back with a 12-3 run that included eight points from Acquaah and an exclamation point on a dunk from Davis. It brought the score to 73-65 with just over two minutes remaining.

The Jaguars simply would not go away easily. CBU has already played in five games decided by one possession or overtime this season, losing four of them. That experience proved to be valuable as CBU found itself in another game that went down to the wire.

Southern cut the lead to a single point on a jumper made by Ray making it 75-74 with 45 seconds left. CBU senior Jordan Heading and Acquaah were put on the line and made four clutch free throws to hold on to the lead. Heading's last free throw put the Lancers up 79-76 with four seconds still on the clock. The Jaguars would get a chance to send the game to overtime, but Richard Lee was unable to convert on a three-point attempt as time expired.

Ray finished with 21 points while Lee added 18 points for Southern (1-11).

The Lancers will return home to face La Verne on December 29 at 7 p.m.