The duo of senior center Jack Colston (Dana Point, CA) and junior guardBrian Kuklok (Poway, CA) teamed up for 50 total points en route to a big-time Bulldog men's basketball victory in overtime at the University of La Verne on Thursday, 91-86. With the win, the University of Redlands sits in fourth place of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings, just one game back of third-place Pomona-Pitzer Colleges.
In a back-and-forth contest, the Bulldogs saw 10 lead-changes, headlined by a Maroon and Gray epic turnaround late in the game. With just 2:13 left in the second period, the Bulldogs trailed by five points at 64-69. Kuklok ignited the late rally with a quick layup at the 1:47-mark, cutting the Leopard lead to three. After a pair of ULV free throws from senior forward Jonathan Bastos, Colston and junior forward Josiah Brensdal (Kent, WA) each registered layups for Redlands in a 40-second span.
Trailing 70-71, the U of R defense was forced to foul with 28 seconds to go, putting the pressure on the Leopards' freshman point guard, Jourdan Simmonds, who missed one of two free throws. Once again, the Bulldogs went to the big man down low as Colston squared up the game with his 21st point.
With 13 seconds remaining, La Verne took control of the final possession and heaved up a potentially winning three-pointer but missed, sending the game to overtime.
Once the extra period kicked off, Redlands continued its late-game momentum by taking the first lead in overtime and never looking back. The Bulldogs uncorked 19 points with senior forward Stephen Call (Portola Valley, CA), Kuklok and Colston each scoring six points down the stretch.
Overall, Colston finished with a career-high 27 points while shooting 8-of-17 from the field. He stepped up at the charity stripe by hitting 11-of-13 of his shots and pulled in nine rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Kuklok tallied 23 points on an efficient 7-for-11 showing as well as a perfect 8-for-8 performance at the free-throw line.
The hard-nosed Brensdal added some punch to the Bulldog starting five, chipping in 12 points to go along with nine rebounds.
Redlands converted its shots at a 49.1%, compared to ULV's 42.6% clip. In addition, the Bulldogs took advantage of their opportunities at the charity stripe, sinking 32 of 38 attempts.
The Bulldogs (12-11, 7-5 SCIAC) remain on the road as they travel to Cal Lutheran University on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tipoff before returning home to Currier Gym for Senior Night against the Beavers of Caltech on Feb. 21.