Riverside, Calif. - The men's basketball team dropped to 0-11 on the season after losing both games of a back-to-back this past weekend. On Friday, the team fell 85-72 to Chapman University, followed by a Saturday night loss to Vanguard University by a final of 91-69.
The Golden Eagles were competitive in both contests, but couldn't keep pace enough to pull out a victory.
In Friday's loss, La Sierra trailed Chapman 43-41 at the half. But in the second half, the Panthers caught fire from beyond the arc to finish the game 13-of-24 (54%) from the 3-point line. That proved to be a big difference in the game, as the Panthers pulled away to complete the series sweep over La Sierra this season.
Eduardo Gomez del Casal Rodriguez had a career day, finishing with a double-double of 23 points and 18 rebounds. Kyle Hamilton added 18 points for La Sierra, while Reynaldo Solorzano chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds.
It was a quick turnaround for the Golden Eagles who hosted Vanguard University the following night. It would prove to be the first of three straight Golden State Athletic Conference opponents that La Sierra would face over the next couple of weeks.
The Lions jumped out to an early lead before the Golden Eagles settled in and fought their way back into the contest. But despite a poor shooting first half, La Sierra was fortunate to trail 46-34 by the half. The Golden Eagles were just 11-of-33 from the field and 11-for-18 from the free throw line.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Vanguard used a min-run to pull away further, only to have the Golden Eagles answer with a mini-run of their own to cut the lead back to the halftime deficit with over 10 minutes to play. But the Golden Eagles ran out of gas in the final stretch and the Lions were able to pull away for good to stay undefeated on the season.
Hamilton matches his 18 points from the day before. Isaac Deese tallied 16 points, while Solorzano and Rodriguez finished with 11 rebounds and 10 rebounds respectively. Christian Jackson also pitched in with 11 points and seven rebounds of his own.
The team will take a few days off from the court to focus on final exams, before getting back to work to prepare for a Saturday night non-conference match-up with The Master's University. Saturday night's contest is scheduled for a 6pm tip-off.
