PLNU put together another tough showing, but it was not enough as the team faltered down the stretch and fell to visiting Cal Baptist 59-55 Wednesday night in Golden Gym. The game was scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed a day due to an outage brought on by storms that hit Southern California.

The Sea Lions looked very good in the first half and led by as many as eight points and went into the break ahead 32-29. The Green and Gold maintained their modest advantage early in the second half, but the Lancers were always within striking distance. PLNU built up a five-point lead numerous times, but CBU's well-balanced offense and stout defense kept them in the game.

A jumper by DeAndre Jones with eight minutes to play put the Sea Lions ahead 53-48. Jones put together one of his better performances of the season, scoring 12 points and running the offense capably.

CBU came charging back as the Sea Lions had no answer for center Luke Evans. He ran off six straight points to put the Lancers up 54-53, their first lead in more than ten minutes. Davey Hopkins added a layup to stretch the run to 8-0.

The Sea Lion offense was held in check until a putback by Rhett Beal with 1:56 to play cut the Lancer lead to one. Evans quickly responded with a layup with 1:31 left. The Sea Lions would have chances in the final minute, but missed two three-pointers and turned the ball over with nine seconds left. A CBU free-throw sealed the game.

The Lancers won the battle in the post on the offensive end, scoring 40 of their 59 points in the paint and outscoring the Sea Lions there 40-26. Evans finished with 13 points, eight of them in the final eight minutes of the game. Hopkins finished with 13 and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in the win. Jamar Ransome came off the bench to add 10 points. CBU's bench outscored PLNU's 17-6.

Beal was PLNU's leading scorer and rebounder with 15 and seven. Jones added 12 points and Nate Van Weelden had 11 in the loss.

PLNU drops to 2-7 in the GSAC and 5-12 on the year. CBU improves to 12-6, 5-3 in conference play. The Sea Lions will take on The Master's on the road this Saturday at 7:30 pm.
-Jeremiah Wood