Cal Lutheran Laughs Last, 80-77 : DeLaveaga Scores 30 to Lead Upset of 9th-Ranked Westmont

No one really expected Cal Lutheran to beat Westmont in the Golden State Athletic Conference season opener Tuesday night. Kingsmen guard Steve deLaveaga admitted as much, saying: “Most of the people here tonight came out just for a laugh.”

Westmont, ranked ninth in the NAIA, was 10-1 and the preseason pick to win the conference title. Cal Lutheran was 5-9 and had lost six of its last seven games. The Kingsmen were picked to finish last in the GSAC.

As it turned out, none of that mattered at Cal Lutheran as the Kingsmen upset the Warriors, 80-77.

“We had a tough preseason schedule and that really prepared us for conference play,” CLU Coach Larry Lopez said. “This is one of our biggest wins.”

DeLaveaga, who scored 30 points, and Dave Jacques combined for 55 points. Jacques helped the Kingsmen roll to a 46-34 halftime lead by scoring 20 points in the first half.

But Westmont came back to go ahead, 63-62, with 10 minutes left in the game. Guard Dan Camp hit four straight three-point shots and connected on a three-point play.

With just more than four minutes left, Jacques and DeLaveaga turned a one-point deficit into a four-point lead. DeLaveaga’s three-point shot put the Kingsmen ahead, 73-69.

Westmont closed the gap to 75-73, but John Aguirre then stole a pass and launched a bomb to DeLaveaga, who scored easily.

Aguirre’s play was perhaps the game’s most important. “I knew they were going to Camp,” Aguirre said. “They’d been going to him the whole game. I just stepped in front of the pass and saw Steve streaking toward the basket.”

Said DeLaveaga: “I heard people today saying, ‘Aw, they’re playing Westmont, they’re going to get killed.’ But we wanted to win, we needed it.”