It took a heavy dose of Kris Rosales and Jeremy Kilgore.
Rosales and Kilgore combined for 40 points, including 12 from Kilgore in the final six minutes, to lead the Royals to a 64-63 win over the Lancers in the National Christian College Athletic Association West Region Semifinals Wednesday night.
It is their first win ever over the Lancers dating back to the first meeting between California Baptist College and then-Pacific Christian College on Jan. 15, 1971. It puts the Royals into tomorrow's finals where they play The Master's.
Meanwhile, the loss is the Lancers' fourth straight to end the season, which comes to an end at 16-10.
It also puts a damper on career nights from Justus Von Wright and Luke Evans, both of whom had double-doubles and eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier for the careers on the same night.
The Lancers led nearly the entire game and were up 52-42 with 8:51 left when the Royals closed the game by scoring 22 of the game's final 33 points. Kilgore tied the game at 57-57 with a 15-foot jumper with 2:20 to play. Austin Sanford gave the Royals a 61-59 lead with 37.4 seconds left.
That was the Royals' first lead of the game and they never lost it.
CBU had a chance to tie, but Von Wright went 1-for-2 at the line with 23.2 seconds left, and Kilgore made another pair on the ensuing possession. After the Lancers came up empty on a game-tying 3-point attempt, Kilgore made another free throw with five seconds left to put the game away.
Kilgore, who had 19 points, was just 3-for-13 from the floor but he went 12-for-14 from the line, making more free throws than the entire Lancer team combined. All three of his field goals came in the final six minutes.
Rosales led the Royals with 21 points and had the key assist on the Sanford layup that gave the Royals the lead for good.
Von Wright finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds and his free throw with 23.2 seconds left gave him his 1,000th career point, becoming the 28th player in the 56-year history of the CBU program to surpass the 1,000-point plateau.
Evans, who had just two points in the first half, scored 12 in the second half and finished with 14 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. His putback with 12:18 left made him the 27th player in the 1,000-point club, and he now has 1,004 for his career. It was also his fifth double-double of the season and ninth of his career.
The Lancers led for more than 39 minutes and led by as many as 15 points when Von Wright scored 14 of the Lancers' first 18 points to help them assume a 22-7 lead with 7:55 left in the half. Von Wright, who had a combined nine points in the last two games, finished the half with 17 points, nearly outscoring the Royals by himself. The Lancers led 32-23 at the half.
The Lancers shot just 35.8 percent from the floor and the Royals were just 32.7 percent, but the Royals only committed seven turnovers and were 28-for-31 from the free throw line, including 18-for-20 in the second half.
Ivan Patterson finished with eight points and four rebounds. The Lancers out-rebounded the Royals 49-31, including 18-4 on the offensive glass.


