CALIFORNIA (Feb. 18) – The California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team suffered a 63-62 loss to Seton Hill after losing the lead in the final seconds on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West play.
With the loss, the Vulcans fall to 14-12 overall and drop in to a tie for seventh place in the PSAC West standings with a 9-11 league record. Meanwhile, the Griffins complete the season sweep and improve to 7-17 this season behind a 6-14 record in conference action.
Junior forward
Calvin Brown (Trevose, Pa. / Bensalem) recorded a season-high 19 points after going seven-of-nine from the field and converting five-of-five attempts from the free-throw line. He also tallied six rebounds, two steals and a block in the loss. Classmate
Richard Smith (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran East) finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, while fellow junior
Khalil Jabbie (Alexandria, Va./Edison) scored 10 points and added three assists in the contest.
Cal U opened the game on a 12-2 run in almost seven minutes of play with Brown scoring eight of the 12 points. Seton Hill then pulled 17-15 on a jumper with 5:55 remaining in the half. The Vulcans held a two-point lead with 0.1 second remaining in the half until Jabbie was fouled and made one free-throw to give Cal U a 24-21 lead at the break.
In the initial 74 seconds of the second half, Seton Hill took a 26-24 lead on a layup and three-pointer. The Vulcans took over the lead on a jumper by Smith and continued to build the lead to 32-26 with 17:06 remaining. The Griffins took the lead once again on a layup before Smith tied the score at 41-41 with 11:31 left in the game. Cal U and Seton Hill traded the lead four times until the Griffins took a lead with 49 seconds remaining on a fastbreak layup. Jabbie then made two free-throws with 24 seconds to play to give the Vulcans the lead once again at 62-61. The Griffins sank the eventual, game-winning jumper from the corner to take the lead with only 11 seconds remaining before the Vulcans were unable to score on a layup as time expired.
The Vulcans shot 45.5 percent (20-of-44) from the field while only converting 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from beyond the arc. Seton Hill posted a .472 field-goal percentage (25-of-53) and made 88.9 percent (eight-of-nine) from the charity stripe. Cal U held a 31-23 rebounding advantage, while Seton Hill scored 20 points off turnovers.
Seton Hill junior Kameron Taylor led all scorers with 22 points (all in the second half) in the victory, while also registering three assists and three rebounds. Senior David Windsor, the team's leading scorer, finished with 12 points while converting just 5-of-15 shots from the field.
The Vulcans return to action on Saturday, Feb. 21, when they host Gannon at 5 p.m.
