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* NAIA Weekly

Jan. 30, 2008

RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- At the end of the night, a resilient No. 14 California Baptist knocked off heavyweight No. 3 Concordia (Calif.), 85-81, for a resounding Golden State Athletic Conference men's basketball win Tuesday night (Jan. 29) in front of 565 rowdy fans in the Van Dyne Gym.

The win moves the Lancers to 16-2 overall, 8-2 GSAC. Concordia, ranked No. 3 in the NAIA, falls to 17-2, 8-2. It is the Lancers' second straight win over the Eagles in Riverside as both teams finish the first half of GSAC-play in a first place tie.

After getting their heart broken Saturday night in a one-point loss to Azusa Pacific, the NAIA's No. 14-ranked Lancers needed this one, and they responded like many outside of Riverside thought they couldn't.

"The guys believed and played with a tremendous amount of heart," said CBU head coach Tim Collins. "Whenever you beat the No. 3-ranked team in the country, it's a big win."

Cernin led all players with a season-high 30 points, hitting a quartet of second half treys to key a furious Lancer effort. He had 23 of his 30 in the second half.

Roussin finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out late in the game.

A total of 57 fouls were called and 73 free throws were shot. Five players fouled out.

Five Eagles reached double figures, paced by 16 each from Terrence Worthy and Rafael Da Silva. After scoring 11 in the first half, Da Silva managed to just net five in the second.

After getting popped in the mouth and taking Concordia's hardest shots in the first half, the Lancers jumped off the mat and punched their way to a 28-8 flurry that turned a nine-point (37-28) deficit into a 56-45 lead with 11:21 to play.

"We had to deal with their pressure, and we handled it much better in the second half," said Collins. "Dave (Cernin) also hit some big game-changing shots."

Roussin had 10 points in the first 3:14 of the second half to get the Lancers back into the game, and that's when Cernin took over. His first trey of the night off a Concordia turnover put the Lancers over the hump and gave them a 43-41 lead with 16:06 remaining. It was their first lead since a 12-11 lead midway through the first half. They never trailed again.

"It's been a long time since I've had a night like this," said Cernin. "Once I hit that first one in the second half, the rim just seemed to get bigger."

Cernin, who had been mired in a monstrous shooting slump since Jan. 5, going just 23-for-74 (.311) from the floor, broke loose tonight. After putting the Lancers back on top, he hit two treys in a row, including one from 26 feet out to make it 51-43.

"That was the first time they lost me in transition so I put it up," said Cernin, when referring to the deep triple from beyond the Lancer logo next to the CBU bench. "It was in rhythm, and I knew it was in as soon as it left my hands."

Worthy stemmed the tide with a pair of free throws, but Davey Hopkins scored the next five points, capped by a big trey from the corner that made it 56-45 midway through the second half.

Right when it seemed like the Lancers had momentum and control, Concordia landed a few more blows, scoring 11 of the next 12 points to get within one (57-56) on a Chris Minardo dunk with 7:01 to play. The Lancers, though, scored the next six.

The two defining moments of the night came when Matt Gonzales lost his shoe, got the ball on the block and spun around his defender for a lay-up to give the Lancers a 67-58 lead with 3:28 remaining. Less than a minute later, Cernin beat the shotclock and his defender with his fourth trey of the night, a leaning one as he was fading out of bounds on the baseline, to make it 70-62 with 2:34 to play.

It was that kind of night.

Cernin later made two free throws with exactly one minute left to make it 75-65. Concordia did its best to lengthen the game, getting within two (83-81) with eight second left. The Lancers were able to keep them at bay, making 10-of-12 from the charity stripe in the final 47 seconds.

Hopkins finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes off the bench.

"Davey jumped up a class tonight," said Collins. "He played like a junior, not a freshman. We knew we got a good one when we signed him, and he just keeps getting better and better."

Roussin gave the Lancers a 12-8 lead with a lay-up with 12:44 to play. That's when the Eagles clamped down on the defensive end and forced the Lancers into eight of their 11 first half turnovers in a four-minute span, scoring 13 straight points to open a 21-12 lead.

Gonzales got the Lancers within 23-18 with six minutes left when the Eagles opened up their largest lead, 32-19, with a 9-1 flurry capped by five straight from Da Silva. The Lancers answered with a 9-1 run of their own to get back within five (33-28) on a Hopkins trey, but Worthy hit two free throws with 0.4 seconds left to make it 35-28 Concordia at the half.

It wasn't so much the 11 first half turnovers the Lancers committed that cost them. After all, Concordia committed eight of its own. It was the 16 points the Eagles scored off them, including scoring 10 points off five giveaways in the big run.

Worthy nabbed five of his eight steals in the first 20 minutes.

Gonzales finished with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks.