Cal Lutheran Goes With Flow and Downs Occidental, 108-89

THOUSAND OAKS —  As votes of confidence go, it was as subtle as they come.

But Cal Lutheran Coach Mike Dunlap’s decision not to call a timeout with 12 1/2 minutes left in Wednesday night’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener between the Kingsmen and Occidental will not be forgotten by his players.

Cal Lutheran had a 16-point lead with 14 minutes 41 seconds left in the game, but Occidental went on a 10-0 run over the next minute and a half to make a game of it.

Many coaches would have called a timeout at that juncture, but Dunlap told his charges to play on and they proceeded to score on seven of their next nine possessions on their way to a 108-89 victory.

“Last year, I probably would have called a timeout,” Dunlap said. “But this is a veteran group and I have confidence in them.

“Plus I didn’t want to call time out and give Occidental a chance to catch their breath completely. They’re a very streaky team and I figured it was best to let them play out the streak they were on.”

Cal Lutheran forward Rupert Sapwell, who scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, glanced toward the Kingsmen bench in the midst of Occidental’s run, but was glad to see no signal.

“I really felt proud that he would let us keep playing,” Sapwell said. “It showed that he was confident we could maintain our composure.”

Cal Lutheran did exactly that by going on a 16-6 run to take an 81-65 lead with 7:19 left.

Five Kingsmen scored during the run, which began on a pair of free throws by Derrick Clark, who scored 16 points, and ended on a three-point bomb by Damon Ridley, who had 22 points and eight rebounds.

“We just got back into our game,” Sapwell said. “Occidental had gotten us into their chatter game and for a little bit there, I think we were more concerned with what we were going to say to them than with what we were doing on the court.”

The victory was the 12th without a loss for Cal Lutheran this season, but the two-time defending SCIAC champions got some bad news earlier in the day when guard Jason Smith was diagnosed with a bone chip on his right knee.

Smith, a 6-foot-5 freshman from Melbourne, Australia, who is averaging 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds a game, is expected to be out for a minimum of three weeks and could be lost for the season.

“Welcome to conference play,” Dunlap said dejectedly.

Paul Tapp, who had 11 points, replaced Smith in the starting lineup and junior forward Paul LaMott contributed 26 minutes off the bench with 15 points, making six of nine shots, and added four rebounds.

“Rupert, Paul and Dave (Ulloa) all did a great job of stepping up their games tonight without Jason,” Dunlap said.

Ulloa had 20 points, six assists and three steals.

Blair Slattery had 21 points and 15 rebounds for Occidental (6-5), but last season’s SCIAC player of the year did not score until the Tigers trailed, 23-8. Cal Lutheran led, 51-34, at halftime.