The BYU-Hawaii Men’s basketball team lost in a nail-biting contest against visiting conference opponent California Baptist University, 98-94. Both teams were evenly matched throughout the game, as the game featured five ties and 11 lead changes.
Cory Lange lead the Seasiders with 21 points, while Scott Friel scored 20 points while also leading the team with seven rebounds and six assists. Justin Park and Solomone Wolfgramm played key roles in the game as the Seasiders were without Ian Harward, who was out with injury for the third straight game. The first half saw both teams going back-and-forth with scoring runs.
It was Cal. Baptist that would make the last run, a 10-2 run, right before half time to send Cal. Baptist into the break up 47-43.
Cal. Baptist continued their run into the second half with a 7-point run to push their lead to 11. However, with a larger than normal crowd behind them, the Seasiders would respond with a 7-point run of their own, beginning with a three-pointer by Lange. After seesaw scoring for several minutes the Seasiders took the lead 84-83, as Friel grabbed a rebound and hit a jumper.
However, in the last couple minutes Cal. Baptist would retake the lead and with some clutch free-throw shooting close out BYUH. “I thought we played well and had our chances to win but made mistakes down the stretch that cost us,” said Justin Yamzon, an exercise and sports science major from Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Regardless, it was a good learning experience for us and now we know we’re capable of playing against the best teams.”Four days earlier, Friel lead the Seasiders to a dominating win against visiting conference opponent Academy of Art, 111-69.
Friel recorded the first ever triple-double in school history with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. “It is a really cool accomplishment for me, I was really surprised that it has never been accomplished before in our school’s history,” said Friel, an exercise and sports science major from Riverton, Utah.
“The hardest part of a triple double is usually the assists, and all my teammates were on fire, I am very proud and honored to be the first.” Justin Park also had a career night, scoring a team-high 23 points.
The Seasiders outrebounded (45-34) and outshot (57.6-40.3) Academy of Art on their way to a lopsided victory. BYU-Hawaii jumped out to a 13-2 lead and never looked back. With the win and loss the Seasiders now find themselves in fifth place with a 7-4 record in conference play and 10-6 overall. BYU-Hawaii will next play conference opponent Dixie State University, Tuesday, Jan. 26th.
The game against Dixie will be a crucial for the Seasiders as they will be going on a road-trip the next week to play four games in Southern California.
“We need to focus on our defense, no one can score like us,” said Lange, a junior business major from Tehachapi, California. “If we can get some more stops we should be in good shape going forward.” The Seasiders will have their hands full as three of the teams that will play are in the top three in the conference.