by Enrique Gutiérrez
Staff Writer
Junior guard Kevin Gustafson hit a three-point basket to give the University of La Verne a 68-67 lead with five minutes to play. With 52 seconds left in the game, Gustafson repeated the dosage to increase the Leopards lead to 76-72 on their way to a Wednesday night victory over Chapman University, 78-77, in the Supertents.
Gustafson led the Leopards with an impressive performance, scoring 34 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out two of the team’s five assists against the previously unbeaten Panthers (7-1).
“Kevin is a really great player and he is really important to our team. He makes us go,” said head coach Dan Mulville. “We are trying to get everybody else more up to his level before the conference season starts. But right now he’s our guy.
“I’m hoping some other guys are going to step up on a consistent basis,” he said.
The Leopards, whose record now stands at 2-2, staged a breathtaking comeback after trailing for most of the game.
It was Gustafson who kept La Verne in the game. Not only did he show his basketball skills, but he also proved to be a great athlete by playing 39 of the 40 total minutes. In fact, he got his one-minute break with 6:24 to play.
La Verne started off a little hesitant, allowing Chapman to take an early 20-6 lead.
“We started off really slow, but as the game went on we picked it up on defense and rebounding,” said Gustafson.
“That’s our downfall so far. We can’t seem to come out with defensive intensity,” said junior forward Greg Gustafson, who scored 11 points but had to leave the game with eight minutes to play due to an injury. “If we play like that we’re going to get killed in SCIAC, but if we play like we did in the last 30 seconds of the game, we can beat anybody.”
La Verne closed the gap to 30-27 with less than six minutes remaining in the first half, which ended 41-35 in favor of the visitors. It wasn’t until the second period that the Leopards caught the Panthers.
The score signaled a 67-63 Chapman lead when Leopards sophomore forward Richard Walsh scored a lay-up and drew a foul to change the score to 67-65. La Verne sophomore Kyle Killam, who had a game-high seven rebounds, ended up with the offensive rebound off Walsh’s free-throw miss and connected with a wide-open Gustafson, who scored the lead-changing three pointer.
“My team hit me open. Without their help I couldn’t get all those shots that I got. And they were setting picks for me,” Kevin Gustafson said. “And I’m just trying to be my best.”
“Most of all I’m happy because we came back. I think we showed a lot of toughness,” Mulville said.
“That was a good team that we played tonight. We want to win conference. That’s why we play a tough schedule now, because we want to get ready for the conference,” he said.
La Verne lead by as many as six, 78-72, with 39.4 seconds on the clock.
A jumper by junior guard Tim Werdel, Jr. with three seconds remaining put the Panthers within four points of the Leopards. Chapman then scored a three pointer through sophomore guard Matt Poutsma to establish the final score with 3.2 ticks left.
The Leopards host UC San Diego Dec. 20 at 4 p.m. in the Supertents.
