LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Cal Lutheran led from start to finish but missed free throws down the stretch nearly cost the men's basketball team a victory on the road Saturday night as the Kingsmen held on to defeat Occidental 70-66.

Box Score: CLU 70, OXY 66 - F

A fast start featuring five quick points by Greg Grimm, a dunk by Aaron Van Klaveren followed by a fast break assist from Xavier Walton to Jayvaughn Nettles gave Cal Lutheran an early 9-2 lead and was a sign of things to come.

It was a complete team effort in the first half highlighted by 10 points apiece from Grimm and Van Klaveren. John Wilson and Steven Davis combined to contribute five of the team's 11 first half assists.

While the CLU offense had little resistance the defense held one of the lowest scoring SCIAC squads to only 25 points and 9-fo-22 shooting from the floor. OXY's season leading scorer Deshun McCoy was held to only two first half points on 1-of-5 shooting.

Nettles and Grimm had the hot hands in the second half as Cal Lutheran knocked down six of its first eight attempts from downtown. The Kingsmen held a double-digit margin throughout a majority of the second half, but the Tigers would not go quietly.

Jack Hanley willed the Tigers back to life scoring 25 of his career-high 33 points in the second half. Along with two clutch triples by Sam Stapleton, his only points of the game, Occidental nearly pulled off the comeback.

Following a backcourt turnover by CLU, Stapleton knocked down a three pointer cutting the lead to 52-44 with 7:10 left, shifting the momentum and revitalizing a quiet crowd inside Rush Gymnasium.

Stapleton matched the feat with under two minutes remaining cutting the margin to eight. Following a five-second inbounds violation on the Kingsmen, a quick layup by the Tigers pulled them within 64-58 with 1:32 left.

From then on the Tigers employed a strategy that involved fouling to force the Kingsmen to knock down their free throws.

Occidental pulled to within five at the one minute mark and after two missed free throws and a layup at the other end by Jake Copithorne made it a three point game. After Grimm missed both free throws it was the Tigers time to possibly tie the game down three with the ball.

After the second half scoring machine Hanley missed a contested layup with 37 seconds left, CLU's Steven Davis grabbed the rebound and the coaching staff called timeout to maintain possession.

Jeremy Sulker-Hall, the team's second best free throw shooter and a freshman facing a pressure situation, calmly knocked down a pair at the charity stripe to temporarily halt the comeback.

After another missed OXY layup, Grimm's hustle and around the back pass to save possession led to a Walton layup to put CLU up seven and end any serious threat of the Tigers completing their comeback

Cal Lutheran will host Whittier in the regular season finale on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m.