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The single-mindedness of the California Baptist University Lancer Men's Basketball team was not quite enough to win them the homecoming game against the number three team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The Concordia Eagles left the crowd of 1112 almost completely silent when Justin Johnson, starting guard for the Eagles, shot from half-court to snatch his team the victory with a final score of 68- 65.

This was the Lancer's second game without Head Coach, Tim Collins, whose mother passed away recently. Collins watched the live streaming of the game from his computer.

Tim Cook, who has been Collin's assistant coach for seven years, filled in for the night.

"I'm just following through with trying to do the best job that [Collins] would do, filling in for him." Cook said. "We gotta alleviate the pressure that they put
on us. We gotta be aggressive. We gotta attack. We gotta play with great energy and effort."

The energy and effort that came from the Lancer's is just what kept them within reach of a victory against the Eagle's.

There was a lot of defensive pressure on both sides from the start. It seems each team tried to intimidate by playing a mostly man-to-man defense.

At one point, during the first half, the Eagle's were playing such tight defense that a CBU player was forced to call a time-out.

By the end of the first half, Concordia was up 38-28.

During the second half, CBU closed in the gap. When asked if he expected a win from the men, in the last fourteen minutes of the game, President Ronald Ellis said, "Absolutely."

Both he and Joe Adcock, assistant dean of students, from opposite sides of the gym looked on intently. At one point, President Ellis was even leaning through the second floor window of the gym.

With fifteen seconds left on the clock and the Eagles up by two, the Lancer's managed to get a hold of the ball.

Dominic Cruz-Duncan passed the ball in to Justin Johnson from CBU's baseline. Two Lancer's quickly stepped up on defense. Threatened by a forthcoming foul, Johnson passed the ball to Gasporra, who in turn, tried to pass it off to one of his teammates.

In flight, the ball was intercepted by CBU's Kelly Johnson, who shelled it out to Justus Von Wright. Wright laid the ball up tying the game with three seconds left in the game.

While the crowd braced themselves for overtime, Justin Johnson traveled up the sideline, tossed up the ball and scored, making for and unforgettable shot that cost the Lancer's the game.

Micah Parker, athletic director, said the buzzer shot was unfortunate, but he's still really proud of the way the men played. "They really represented our school well. They did a good job. And I just want to say thanks to all the fans and everybody who came out."