Box Score Shoremen Top Host Kingsmen, 75-67
THOUSAND OAKS, CA – Senior guard Kevin Breslin (Hagerstown, MD/St. Maria Goretti) scored a game-best 22 points and totaled a career-high six steals as visiting Washington College downed host Cal Lutheran, 75-67, in the first round of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Tournament at the Gilbert Center in non-conference men's basketball action. The Shoremen improve to 6-5 on the season, while the Kingsmen drop to 3-5. The victory was the 100th all-time win for men's basketball head coach Rob Nugent at Washington College.
Nugent is the fourth head coach in the 100-year history of the WC program to win 100 games as he joins Tom Finnegan (378), J. Thomas Kibler (278) and Ed Athey (114) to win 100 or more games at the helm of the Shoremen.
After the Kingsmen jumped out to a 4-0 lead, the Shoremen scored six of the next seven points to take a 6-5 lead with 17:18 to go in the first half on a breakaway slam dunk by junior forward Tony Hawkins (Mt. Ephraim, NJ/Haddon Township) on a pass by senior guard Mark DeBoy (Baltimore, MD/Mount St. Joseph). However, Cal Lutheran would answer with an 11-0 run to take a 16-6 lead with 14:48 left in the first on a Ryan Burris lay-in. After WC cut it to 16-11 with 13:55 left in the first on a free throw by Breslin, the Kingsmen used a 16-9 run to take their largest lead of the half at 32-20 with 7:22 left in the half on a Mike Harris layup.
The Shoremen answered with a 22-4 run end the first half and took a 42-36 lead into halftime. WC took the lead with 1:22 left in the first half on a Breslin jumper at 37-36. Breslin made it 40-36 with 18 ticks left in the first half on a transition layup on a long pass from Hawkins after he stole the ball. Breslin closed the half with a steal and fast-break layup with five ticks remaining to give WC a six-point halftime lead.
In the second half, WC took its largest of the game at that point with 15:27 left in the game on a layup by sophomore forward Kevin Cunningham (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) at 47-39 after he stole the ball from Cal Lutheran. However, the Kingsmen responded with a 17-7 run to retake the lead at 56-54 with 7:20 left in the second on a Harris layup. Cal Lutheran led 61-59, when Breslin canned a three-pointer with 4:54 to go to put Washington back up 62-61. Cunningham extended WC's lead to three at 64-61 with 2:47 left when he tipped-in a missed shot. With the shot clock winding down, senior guard Sal Schittino (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola Blakefield) drained a bank-shot three pointer from well behind the arc to give WC a 67-61 lead with 49 seconds left. The Shoremen went 8-for-10 from the foul line the rest of the way to salt the victory. The guests ended the game on a 21-11 run after the hosts took a 56-54 lead.
Hawkins and Schittino also scored in double figures along with Breslin as they both tallied 13 points for WC. For Hawkins, it was a career-high. Breslin grabbed a team-best nine rebounds to just miss recording a double-double. Senior forward Adam Naymick (Hanover, PA/Delone Catholic) handed out four assists to tie for game-best.
For Cal Lutheran, Aaron Van Klaveren had a team-best 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to give a double-double. Harris also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards. Xavier Walton added 10 points, while Jayvaughn Nettles had four assists to tie for tops in the game.
The Kingsmen held a 40-33 edge on the boards, but committed 22 turnovers to just 15 for the Shoremen. WC held a 33-12 edge in points off of turnovers and 14-0 edge in fast-break points. The Shoremen held a 22-12 cushion in bench points, while the Kingsmen outscored the Shoremen in second-chance points 15-7 and points in the paint by a 42-34 margin. WC had 13 steals in the win, while Cal Lutheran had six pilfers.
Washington will play either Carthage or Geneva tomorrow night for the tournament crown at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time, 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
