CLU Surely Lets a Good Time Roll on La Verne

Pardon Cal Lutheran Coach Larry Lopez if he seems excessively good natured of late. These are, one must understand, good times out at CLU gym, perhaps the ugliest, dingiest college gymnasium in America.

The place looks like a basement, complete with pipes twisting a few feet above the backboards. But, for once, Cal Lutheran doesn’t have a team in the basement to match. Lopez, who has been at the school as an assistant for the past two years, has seen nothing but misery--48 losses in 61 games--until now.

The Kingsmen improved their record to a modest, but in their minds, miraculous 4-3 by beating La Verne, 110-87, right there in the old gym on Friday night.

“This was a good one,” Lopez said. “We played extremely well. We’ve had no letdown. And we’re getting better day in and day out. Our guys are really coming on. I’m extremely pleased with this team...”

You get the idea.

And in truth, this game was over almost as soon as it started.

After just three minutes, La Verne Coach Bob Elder called for a timeout because CLU jumped to a 10-0 lead. He gathered his team around and screamed: “Don’t worry, it’s a long game. It’s a long game.”

He couldn’t have known how right he really was.

Steve deLaveaga scored 16 first-half points, Lionel Boyce had 12, James Faulk 12 and Michael Demeter 10 for the Kingsmen. By the time the half mercifully ended, CLU was ahead, 64-43.

Scoring records were being threatened, and defense was more or less a forgotten art. It was run-and-gun offense that would have made former NBA guard Earl Monroe proud.

“We’d been working on our fast break and that’s what we wanted to do tonight,” said James Faulk, who scored 16 points. “We wanted to get the ball off the glass and go with it before they had a chance to set up.”

As it turned out, Cal Lutheran caught them before they woke up.

The second half provided more of the same. DeLaveaga led the attack with 22 points and Boyce added 18. Faulk was the Kingsmen’s top rebounder with seven. CLU outboarded La Verne, 49-33.

Afterward, Faulk summed things up both for Lopez and his teammates. “This feels good,” he said, looking around at the dungeon-like arena. “This place is used to other teams doing this to them. Well, now the shoe is on the other foot.”