Defensive stops came to the aid of SU midway through second half, allowing Morgan Means and Mattia Da Campo to push the ball in transition and chip away at the established Lancer lead. Down by 13, 45-32, with 14:59 to go, the Redhawks jump-started a 10-0 stretch. Da Campo opened up the floor, scoring seven in the run while Grigsby floated in three. The hot hands of Da Campo gave Seattle U its first lead, 47-46, following a triple from the senior forward with just over 10 minutes to play.
The brief lead would the the only one of the night, however. THe teams found themselves tied 49-49 and 51-51, but the Lancers would piece together an 8-0 run and the Redhawks would get no closer than three down the stretch. Seeing both sides in the double bonus, a free-throw battle in the closing minutes worked out in the Lancers favor, finishing off the contest with nine points from the charity stripe to counter SU's seven and handing CBU their fifth win in WAC competition.
"We have to congratulate the opponent," said Head Coach Jim Hayford. "CBU had their team more prepared from the opening whistle than I had my team."
Da Campo and Means picked up 10 and 13 points, respectively while Terrell Brown finished with 14 points and five assists.
Early foul trouble from Brown kept the junior guard quiet defensively late in the second. The Lancers took advantage, stretching the floor to create open three-point chances by Bul Kuol and Brandon Boyd and open some separation, 59-51, entering crunch time.
California Baptist established their lead early, capitalizing off hot shooting in the block, putting the size advantage in the four and five positions to good use to attack the basket and open up an early 11-3 lead after the first five minutes of play. Seattle U couldn't match the Lancer intensity in the early goings, putting up 3-18 from the field at the 10:51 mark, 27 percent in the first half.
The Redhawks (11-12, 4-4 WAC) found their shooting groove late in the first to cut the deficit. A pair of triples from Nettles, and threes in the clutch from Dallas and Means clawed Seattle U back from a 22-14 gap with 5:53 on the clock to finish the opening frame down 33-30. Brown led the Redhawks with eight points in the first to keep SU in the game on the offensive end.
The Lancers (16-6, 5-2 WAC) came out of the halftime break firing – sparking an 8-2 run capped off with a four-point play by Kuol with 16:10 to play. CBU made the most of their offensive opportunities by keeping the play alive, out-rebounding Seattle U 17-10 on the offensive glass and 51-36 total on the afternoon.
"We fought valiantly down the stretch, and unfortunately they sealed it at the free-throw line," said Hayford. "There's no panic, it's just a call to our guys to play consistent. And consistency comes through confidence and we'll use this to make us better."
The Redhawks look to re-start some WAC momentum on a three-game road trip starting Saturday, Feb. 8 where SU will take on Utah Valley. Tip-off is set at 2 p.m. Mountain time, 1 p.m. Pacific.