THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Jan. 26, 2008) –
It may have been 1,500 people chanting DE-FENSE when the Tigers had
the ball late in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference show-down at Gilbert Arena tonight, but the Occidental
College Tigers held their composure, and the lead, into the final
minutes of play en route to a 67-58 victory over California
Lutheran University tonight.
Occidental trailed 23-21 at the half, but
returned to the court fired up and in control. The Tigers used an
8-0 run to open the final period of play to take and maintain the
lead. Gemayal McBride set the
pace scoring two of his six points to tie the game at 23-23 and
Sean Anderson sank a pair of free-throws minutes
later to give Oxy the edge.
Overall the Tigers were 100% at the line
behind a 10-for-10 performance by Connor Whitman
coupled with 4-for-4 and 2-for-2 efforts from Huston
Conti and Anderson, respectively.
Whitman led the way offensively with 21
points, with Chris Hunt, Chris Pitcher and Conti
scoring 10 apiece. Whitman connected for three from long range and
Conti and Hunt were each 2-for-3 beyond the arc.
McBride, who set the tempo for the Tigers in
the second half finished with a game-high seven assists.
Occidental out-rebounded Cal Lutheran by a
29-24 margin, although the Kingsmen grabbed 11 on the offensive end
of the court, one more than the Tigers. Hunt tallied a team-leading
six boards, as Anderson came down with five followed by Whitman
with four. Oxy converted their 10 offensive boards into eight
points, while the Kingsmen scored five second chance points.
Cal Lutheran capitalized on Oxy turnovers,
scoring 17 points off the 13 turnovers. Oxy scored just eight
points after forcing 12 turnovers.
The Tigers shot 48.9 percent from the field,
including a 14-for-24 second half performance, as the Kingsmen
finished shooting 43.8 %, going 12-for-28 in the second half. CLU
and Oxy scored 22 and 20 points in the paint, respectively.
Cal Lutheran's Mychal Owens led all
players with 26 points and eight rebounds while Andrew Meier and
Deshion Inniss each scored 11. The entirety of the Kingsmen scoring
came from starters tonight.
Occidental improves to 14-2, 4-1 in SCIAC play
and Cal Lutheran drops to 13-3, 3-2. A Pomona-Pitzer loss to
Whittier College tonight, drops the Sagehens to 8-8, 3-2, leaving
the Tigers alone at the top of the conference standings.
Occidental will host Whittier on Wednesday,
Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Rush Gymnasium.
