Leopards swat Eagles

Campus Times
December 3, 1999

by Jason Cooper
Staff Writer

University of La Verne men's basketball faced off against La Sierra Tuesday and shot down the Golden Eagles' easily, winning 71-53.

From the opening tip off to the ending buzzer, La Verne dominated even as play turned sloppy at the beginning of the second half.

Junior guard Kevin Gustafson took the opening tip and a quick pass to guard Jason Riley for the basket, setting the tone for the game.

Gustafson, with 26 points in the game, provided almost half of ULV's offense in the first half with 19 of the team's 42 points scored.

"We played a good game," said Gustafson. "There is a lot of room for improvement though."

Rebounding was a problem for the Leopards. Despite the play of Greg Gustafson (who is 6'6''), ULV often failed to corral the ball.

"Other people need to step up," said head coach Dan Mulville. "If we do not box out we are going to have trouble in SCIAC."

Starting early in the first half, La Verne held a 10-point cushion and did not relinquish that margin for the rest of the game. The Leopards went into halftime with a 42-23 lead.

The second half saw much of the same La Verne domination but with one more attribute, sloppy play.

Both teams fumbled around with the ball, sending misguided passes and shots.

"We did not play to our potential," said Mulville. "We had poor defensive intensity and we played sloppy."

Freshman guards Josh Johnson, with five points, and Robbie Leark helped La Verne pull out of the muck and regain control of the game.

Kevin Gustafson also contributed seven points of his own and Greg Gustafson had 13 points besides pivotal rebounds and free throw conversions that helped the Leopard cause.

"The lead was not a major priority in the second half but we needed to concentrate more," said Kevin.

Defensively for ULV, sophomore guard James Morrison forced many turnovers, but fouls plagued his play. Sophomore forward Charlton Charles played well down low for La Verne.

"We had a good game, but SCIAC is physical and we are are going to get killed if we do not play physical and box out," said Mulville.

La Verne will face Chapman on Dec. 8 and commence SCIAC play Jan. 12 at Pomona-Pitzer.

"We need to pick our intensity up in practice," said Gustafson. "If we do we will have the same intensity in our games."