The Cal Lutheran men's basketball team had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and they added another item following a 55-49 victory over Luther (IA) on Friday to open the 2010 Surf's Up Classic. The victory was No. 400 in the career of CLU head coach Rich Rider who has amassed the total while at the helm of two different programs.

Box Score: CLU 55, LC 49 - F
Box Score: CC 82, PAC 75 - F

After amassing 136 victories while at the helm of another southern California program in Chapman University over a nine-year span, in his 17th year at Cal Lutheran he picked up win No. 264 to account for the grand total.

Following a sluggish first half that featured only 42 points combined between the two squads, a strong second half shooting performance and defensive effort by the Kingsmen aided a come-from-behind victory.

A balanced offensive attack from Cal Lutheran featured four of its starting five scoring in double figures with Aaron Fisher's 12 leading the Kingsmen. However the trio of Kwaminique Brandon, Aaron Van Klaveren and Greg Grimm contributed the most timely buckets of the game.

The Norse earned a slim 23-19 advantage following a conventional three-point play by John Androus in the final minute of the opening period.

Luther took the lead at the 14:46 mark of the first half and would not trail for the ensuing 21-plus minutes. However CLU sophomore Kwaminique Brandon led the team's scoring effort in the second half and tied the game on two separate occasions knocking down timely three-pointers early in the period.

Van Klaveren did most of his damage in the second half contributing eight points, six rebounds and three blocks, and his basket with 13:20 left in regulation gave CLU its first lead of the period. Grimm was one of three Kingsmen with 11 points, and his jumper at the 11:28 mark provided Cal Lutheran a lead it would hold to the end.

After shooting only 7-for-27 in the first half, the Cal Lutheran offense knocked down 14-of-23 shots and outscored Luther 36-26 coming out of halftime.

Cal Lutheran put pressure on the Luther big men forcing the action and earning trips to the free throw line. The Kingsmen took 19 free throws and both of the Norse starting forwards in Tyler Wedemeier and Nnamdi Okolue committed four fouls apiece and played less than 20 minutes.

Van Klaveren played 36 minutes and recorded a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Luther leading scorer Dane Larson scored 12 points doing so on a 4-of-15 shooting performance from the floor.

In the second contest of the Friday competition Carthage held on to defeat Pacific by an 82-75 margin.

Despite shooting 4-for-26 from downtown as a team, all five Red Men starters scored in double figures. Steve Djurickovic was a near-miss for a triple-double leading the squad while contributing team-highs of 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

Boxers starter LeMar Anglin scored 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor and converting 11-of-16 free throws in the loss. Teammates Carson Bartlett and Adam McElwee scored 17 and 12 points, respectively.

Cal Lutheran (2-0) will face Pacific (0-3) on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 1 p.m. HST followed by the Surf's Up Classic finale with Whitworth taking on Luther at 3 p.m. HST.