RIVERSIDE – A sellout crowd cheered California Baptist University to its second home win of the season, in a 112-56 victory over Cal Lutheran on Friday night.
The Lancers came close to match their record for points in a game (115) while dominating each aspect throughout the 40 minutes of play. CBU doubled up the Kingsmen on the scoreboard with significant advantages in rebounding (44-27) and turnovers (19).
Offensively, the Lancers shot 60 percent from the field (36-60) and 41.9 percent from three (12-31), with the help of 21 assists. On defense, CBU held Cal Lutheran to 32.1 percent overall (17-53) and 27.6 percent from beyond (8-29).
Five Lancers scored in double-digits on the night.
Milan Acquaah scored a game-high 27 points on 4-for-8 shooting from three and 9-10 at the free-throw line. He added seven assists, four rebounds, and four steals in 26 minutes.
De'jon Davis put together an impressive double-double on 14 points, 11 rebounds, and also had two steals.
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Omar Lo scored 15 points on a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, including four dunks and two alley-oops, and had nine rebounds and a block.
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Ferron Flavors, Jr. and
Brandon Boyd built on their impressive CBU debuts, as well. Flavors poured on 17 points and four assists, while Boyd had 12 points, four assists, and three steals.
CBU begins the year at 2-0 and will play its first two road games next week. It was Cal Lutheran's first game of the year, albeit a non-countable exhibition for the Kingsmen.
The Lancers take their undefeated record on the road, facing two big road challenges against Power 5 foes. CBU first travels to Austin, Texas, to take on the University of Texas on Tuesday, Nov. 12, with tipoff at 5 p.m. Pacific. The Lancers then head to Berkeley to face the California Golden Bears Friday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m.
The Longhorns of the Big 12 Conference went 21-16 last season and won the National Invitational Tournament. Cal is a Pac-12 member looking to bounce back from an eight-win season under first-year coach Mark Fox. The Bears are off to a good start after a season-opening 87-71 win over Pepperdine.
CBU opened the game on a 13-3 run, thanks to two three-pointers from Flavors and five points from Boyd. Cal Lutheran managed to cut the score down to four, but the Lancers flipped the switch and scored 15 straight as part of a 20-3 run that gave them a commanding 35-14 lead. Â
Lo gave the Lancers a big shot of momentum off the bench again on Friday. The senior transfer played a key role in CBU's 15-0 run, as he came up with a monster block on one end and a tip-in layup at the other end to make it 19-11.
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The Lancers started driving into the paint for one easy bucket after another from there, with six layups and a three-pointer making up the run.
Acquaah led CBU with 16 points, three steals, three rebounds and three assists over 17 minutes in the first half. The Lancers posted a 24-18 advantage on the board, with Davis grabbing a team-high eight to go with eight points in 17 minutes.
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CBU kept pushing the pace in the second half, which led to steals and exciting buckets in transition. The Lancers shot 70 percent (21-30) and 57.1 percent from beyond the arc (8-14), with a 20-9 advantage in rebounds over the final 20 minutes.
Lo got the Lancer fans on their feet with two exciting alley-oops dunks in the second half, while Davis added one of his own.
The Lancers closed out the second half shooting a blistering 70 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from the 3-point line, and 82.4 percent from the charity stripe.Â
