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Cal Lutheran men race past La Sierra in season opener
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More from CollegeIt was just about the ideal way for Cal Lutheran men's basketball coach Rich Rider to break in a young team: A comfortable victory that allowed him to play everyone — and showed him where the team needs improvement going forward.
"Plenty to work on," agreed Rider after the CLU men breezed past visiting La Sierra 76-52 in the Kingsmen's season opener Saturday night.
"We're a young team. They want to learn. We're getting better, but there's still a long ways to go for our young guys."
Ten CLU players were on the court for 12 or more minutes and four scored in double figures after CLU took early control. With seven minutes left in the first half, the Kingsmen led 27-4 — a start only partly attributable to CLU's defensive effort. At that point, La Sierra () was just 1 of 13 from the field and had committed 12 turnovers; it took until late in the first half for the Golden Eagles' point total to surpass their turnover figure. At halftime, CLU led 43-20, with La Sierra committing 16 turnovers.
"I think we caught them on an off night, no question," said Rider. "They took some quick shots that didn't go down. But if those shots go down, it's a different ballgame the first 10 or 12 minutes."
Aaron Fisher, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds, agreed La Sierra's start may have been a bit misleading.
"Oxy's one of our biggest competitors," Fisher said, referring to CLU's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival, "and they lost to Oxy by three. So we don't take any competitors for granted. We always come out hard.
Andy Meier had 10 points and 11 rebounds to lead the effort for a CLU team that has no seniors, and started two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. Kyle Knudsen also scored 13 points, and Greg Grimm added 10. CLU finished with a 59-32 rebounding advantage .
and shot 43 percent (28 of 65) to La Sierra's 28 percent (17 of 60).
Joshua Zonker led La Sierra with 12 points.
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