Claremont, Calif. - Pomona-Pitzer shot just 4-15 from the foul line, and Cal Lutheran's Dan Wade broke a tie with a 20-foot jumper with just over one minute to play, as the Sagehens fell 59-56 on the road on Saturday evening.

The loss drops Pomona-Pitzer to 13-8 overall and 8-5 in the SCIAC, remaining in third place in the conference standings, one game ahead of fourth-place Whittier and two games ahead of the three teams tied for fifth. Cal Lutheran improves to 10-12 overall and 6-7 in the SCIAC and keeps its postseason hopes alive by joining the fifth-place tie with Chapman and La Verne (the top four teams qualify for the postseason).

The score was tied 55-55 with just under two minutes to go, when the Sagehens were called for a foul off the ball. Dan Wade then hit a long two-pointer, with his foot on the three-point line, to give the Kingsmen the lead with 1:09 to play. Junior forward John Weiss (Cleveland, Ohio - pictured) made 1-2 at the line with 47 seconds left to cut the lead to one, ending a stretch where the Sagehens missed eight foul shots in a row after halftime.

Junior forward Jake Klewer (Tucson, Ariz.) nearly had a big steal for the Sagehens as he stepped in the passing lane and tried to call timeout as his momentum took him of bounds with 31 seconds left. The officials did not grant the timeout by rule, and reset the shot clock on the possession change, allowing Cal Lutheran to maintain the ball with the clock turned off.

It was the second year in a row that Cal Lutheran benefitted from the same call in the final minute in order to defeat Pomona-Pitzer. A year ago, with the score tied and 35 seconds left, Weiss fell out of bounds with a steal and just six seconds on the shot clock, and the reset allowed the Kingsmen to hold for the final shot, which resulted in the winning free throw from Aaron Van Klaveren with 1.3 seconds left in a 47-46 Cal Lutheran win.

This time, the Kingsmen were already in front by one point, so Pomona-Pitzer had to foul instead of going for the stop. Wade made both foul shots with 22 seconds left to push the lead up to three, and the Sagehens were called a timeout with nine seconds left after their initial offense didn't produce a good look at the basket. The ball ended up in the hands of senior guard Xavyr Moss (Federal Way, Wash.) 30 feet from the basket as the clock was about to expire, and Moss' prayerwas not answered as the Kingsmen came away with the win.

Pomona-Pitzer was down 30-19 late in the first half, but pulled within 34-27 at the half and then scored 12 straight points to start the second half and take a 39-34 lead on a fast break lay-up from Klewer.

Weiss made two straight three-pointers to help the Sagehens push the lead to five points twice, the second at 47-42 with 10:57 left. However, Guy Lynott put Cal Lutheran back in front with 6:21 left on a pair of foul shots, making the score 50-49. Senior forward Donald Okpalugo (Manchester, Eng. gave Pomona-Pitzer its final lead at 55-54 with 3:27 left on an 18-foot jumper, but Michael Palmer tied the score with a foul shot.

Weiss finished with a team-high 13 points, shooting 4-4 from three-point territory. Sophomore guard Michael Cohen (Tarzana, Calif.) added 11 and sophomore guard Kyle McAndrews (Seattle, Wash.) added 10 for the Sagehens. Lynott led all scorers with 19, while Wade added 14.

Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action on Wednesday for the big cross-street rivalry with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at home at 7:30 p.m.  CMS and Redlands are battling for the regular season title, with Redlands currently ahead by one game in the loss column.