LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Feb. 16, 2008) –
They came into the night ranked first in the West region,
18th in the D3Hoops.com poll and fist in the Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. They left with a
feeling of disappointment and the look of shock, despite
Occidental College men's basketball
turned in a poor 19-for-56 field goal shooting night (33.9%) as
they fell to Pomona-Pitzer by a score of 62-47 at Rush Gymnasium
tonight.
Although the Tigers chipped away at the PP
lead during the second half, they came up short, pulling only
within 13, twice, at the closest point.
The entire game was one-sided as Pomona-Pitzer
jumped out to a 14-2 lead to start things off before taking a
20-point, 34-14, advantage into the locker room, maintaining a
double figure lead for 29 minutes of action.
Difficulties shooting, coupled with tough
defense from the Sagehens left the Tigers with a mere 29.2 field
goal percentage in the first half. Pomona-Pitzer's perimeter
shooters were on fire, knocking down 13-of-22 (59.1%) of their
shots in the first half, making 6-of-8 three-pointers, to set the
tone of the game.
The game was very defensive, but non-physical
game with just six combined first half fouls and 12 total
free-throw attempts between the teams.
Connor Whitman and Jabarri
Reynolds scored 19 for the Tigers and Sagehens, respectively to
lead all players. Justin Sexton and David Brown poured in 13 apiece
for PP. Sexton also had a game high six assists.
Occidental out-rebounded Pomona-Pitzer 30-26
with 11 offensive boards to PP's three. Chris
Hunt led all players with eight while Sean
Anderson grabbed seven, with each picking up three on the
offensive end of the court. Reynolds and Sexton each finished with
seven as well.
Tonight's loss snaps a nine-game win
streak, marking just the second loss in SCIAC action during the
2008 season. Occidental falls to 19-3 overall with a 9-2 SCIAC
mark.
The Tigers will return to the court on
Wednesday, Feb. 20 when they host California Lutheran University,
who boasts an identical record both overall and in conference play,
at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday night the Kingsmen defeated
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 53-50 at home in the Gilbert Arena.
