CLAREMONT, Calif.(Jan. 17, 2009) – Junior center Sean Anderson did a little bit of everything tonight as the Tigers claimed their first win of the 2009 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season tonight with a nail-biting 52-51 victory tonight over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the road.

Andersonscored the first bucket of the game for the Tigers and was responsible for the final two points, to tie and ultimately win the game, on a pair of free-throws with 1:03 to play in regulation before blocking CMS's final shot of the game, for the win, with just four seconds to go.

A poor opening half was erased in the minds of the tigers as they came back from a 24-16 deficit at the break to shoot 50% from the field as a team, outscoring the Stags 36-27 in the final 20 minutes of play.

Occidental tied the game up six times and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps tied it once as the lead changed 10 times throughout the contest.

At the end of the night, Oxy score 24 points in the paint, 12 coming from Anderson on 7-for-12 shooting. He added a 6-for-7 performance from the charity stripe as well.

The Tigers out-rebounded the Stags 46-31 and managed to grab 11 offensive boards, which led to 11 second chance points. Justin Goltz led all players on the glass with 11 rebounds (four offensive) while Anderson (three offensive) and Clark Gordon (two offensive) each pulled down eight. Goltz was also credited with a pair of blocks.

As a team Oxy was 13-for-14 from the free-throw line and forced eight CMS turnovers that led to nine points. Jack Hanley was 5-for-5 and added 11 points from the field for a 16-point game.

Entering the game CMS (10-4, 2-1) CMS was undefeated in SCIAC action while the Tigers had struggled, dropping five consecutive games. Occidental now sits at 5-9 overall, 1-2 SCIAC.

Wednesday evening Occidental will host Whittier College (9-5, 3-0) who is currently tied atop the SCIAC standings with Pomona-Pitzer. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Rush Gymnasium.