It’s Chapman’s Night in 102-80 Win

Before Saturday night, Chapman College had won two conference games by a total of three points.

My, how a game can change an average margin of victory.

Chapman (3-2, 10-9) scored the most points it has all season, taking a 102-80 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. victory over Cal State Los Angeles in front of 600 in the Hutton Sports Center at Orange.

Chapman’s 102 points bested its previous high of 95 against BYU-Hawaii in the first game of the season.

The last time Chapman scored more than 100 points was in December, 1983, when the Panthers defeated West Coast Christian, 111-75.

Wayne Briggs, a substitute from Katella High School, put the Panthers over 100 mark with 11 seconds left, making a layup off the break and a foul shot afterward.

All this came a night after Chapman lost by eight to Cal State Northridge, shooting just 34% from the floor.

Things were altogether different Saturday night. Chapman shot 57% from the floor, making 35 of 62 field goals. The Panthers led by as many as 22 points in the first half.

“I told them last night when the game was over that if we lost tonight the possibility of winning the conference championship was over,” Chapman Coach Kevin Wilson said. “I told them to go home and think about it. They all played hard tonight.”

Granted, Cal State L.A. (1-4, 6-10), was mired in a three-way tie for last place in the CCAA before the game and one of its six victories this season came against the Milwaukee School of Engineering, but the Golden Eagles beat Cal State Dominguez Hills--a 12-5 team--by a point in triple overtime Friday night.

The Panthers gained a 10-point lead just more than six minutes into the game, but allowed Cal State L.A. to cut it to four when Marty Heede completed a four-point play. He made a free throw after being fouled on an off-balance three-point shot.

Chapman led by seven when it went on a 27-12 stretch, allowing only two field goals over the next 11 minutes and taking a 50-28 lead with 57 seconds remaining in the half.

Heede’s three-point shot helped Cal State L.A. cut it to 12 early in the second half, but a three point play by Jon Samuelson, who finished with a game-high 22 points, gave Chapman a 64-46 lead with 12:12 to play.

Samuelson made a no-look pass to David Roth on a three-on-one fast break with 9:17 to go, and the layup gave Chapman a 24-point lead. Chapman’s largest lead was 29, with about three minutes to play.

“Tonight we didn’t play as well as we had been playing,” CSLA Coach Jim Newman said. “It was the first time we’d been out of it by halftime.”

Karl Tompkins scored 12 points for Chapman, and freshman David Roth, a graduate of Orange High School, in his second career start and his first start at home, scored 14, with the Orange High School band coincidentally on hand for the occasion.

Heede led CSLA with 16.