Despite career-high scoring from two players, the University of Redlands men's basketball team suffered an 84-93 loss to the Cal Lutheran University Kingsmen on Saturday afternoon in Thousand Oaks. After trailing early, the Bulldogs worked to recover from a 15-point deficit but could not complete the comeback.
Just three days after posting a career-best with 29, sophomore forward David Menary (Grass Valley, CA) topped the charts again with a 30-point effort on 11-for-15 shooting. Sophomore guard Hass Berry (Riverside, CA) impressed in just his second start of the season by going off for 20 points with a 5-for-10 showing from downtown.
While making the first start of his young career at Redlands, first-year forward Jordan Holden (Anaheim, CA) found an open Menary for the lay-up on the Bulldogs' first possession of the game for the early 2-0 advantage. Unfortunately, the Maroon and Gray's offense went ice cold, as Cal Lutheran stormed out to a 14-2 lead by the 15:50-mark of the first half.
After Holden's bucket from deep halted the scoring drought, the Bulldogs fought to overcome the double-digit hole. About 10 minutes later, Redlands had cut it to six at 26-32, with six different players chipping in points. Sophomore guard Jesse Grabow (San Ramon, CA) dished out a dime of a pass to junior guard Joey Sponheim (Redlands, CA) for his bucket from beyond the arc before Grabow stepped back and nailed a three-pointer of his own just minutes later. In addition, Berry hit a pair of trey-balls, with Holden and first-year guard Jacob Russell (Boise, ID) each facilitating the score with assists.
However, Cal Lutheran responded with a 10-6 run to close out the half with a 42-32 lead and continued to press early in the second to extend its advantage to 15 points by the 18:30-mark.
With Menary and Berry leading the offensive charge, the Bulldogs also gained quality points from sophomore guard Brittian Foster (Long Beach, CA), as senior guard Kyle Husslein (Tamuning, Guam) and Sponheim each dished out quality assists. Menary also stayed tough in the paint by pulling in seven of his team-high nine rebounds in the second half.
Despite cutting it to six off of another Berry three-pointer with 8:39 to go, the Bulldogs struggled to move any closer and ultimately lost by a score of 84-93.
Redlands (5-10, 3-4 SCIAC) returns home to Currier Gym on Wednesday, January 17, to face in-region foe UC Santa Cruz at 5 p.m.