LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Dec. 1, 2009) – The Occidental
College men's basketball team welcomed in December with a
98-55 win over West Coast Baptist College. For the second time in
as many meetings, the Tigers came out on top, tonight with an
impressive all-around performance. Oxy shot an incredible 61% from
the field as a team, knocking down 58% of their three-point
attempts, while out-rebounding the Golden Eagles 50-26
as two players poured in more than 20 points and
another pair recorded double-doubles.
Occidental took a two-digit lead, that they would not
relinquish, with 8:14 to play in the opening stanza when
Sean Anderson scored in the paint for two of his
15 points. The bucket sparked a 14-6 run to close out the first
half.
When the teams took the court again in the final period of play,
the pace of the game flowed the same way, with the Tigers
dominating on the court. Occidental had six players score,
finishing with at least 10 points and shooting better than 50% from
the field, each. Oxy made its presence felt inside, scoring 52
points in the paint.
Sophomore Jack Hanley led the attack with 28
points, 24 coming in the second half, as he went 11-for-14, which
included 3-for-3 performances from both beyond the arc and the
free-throw line. Huston Conti also finished the
night in fine form with 21 points (7-for-12), hitting 3-for-4 from
three-point range and knocking down 3-for-3 shots from the stripe.
Both players were responsible for four assists and Hanley was
credited with a pair of blocks.
Anderson added 11 rebounds (four offensive) to his 13 points and
DeShun McCoy added a 13-point, 11-rebound
double-double as they finished 6-for-11 and 6-for-10, respectively.
They combined for four free-throws in as many chances.
Coming off the bench, sophomore Jake Copithorne
scored 10 points on a 5-for-8 night while dishing out six assists,
second to freshman point guard Eric Leider who
handed out seven to go along with his 11-point night. Of the 40
baskets that the Tigers made tonight, they served up 27 assists,
with all but one player getting at least one. Peter
Gierlach tallied three in the game.
Defensively, the Black and Orange were tough, combining for
seven blocked shots, forcing 19 turnovers in the game. Copithorne
joined Conti and Anderson with three steals apiece and Leider and
David Ostrow each finished with two. Overall, 21
of the Tigers' points came off turnovers.
West Coast Baptist had two players reach double figures tonight
with Creed Miller and Cody Mainous scoring 14 and 12, respectively.
Miller pulled down a team-high five rebounds for the Eagles and
Mainous finished with five assists to lead the squad.
Tonight was the first of three consecutive home games at Rush
Gymnasium. Thursday evening the Tigers will host another group of
Golden Eagles when La Sierra University comes into town. Tip-off is
scheduled for 7:30 p.m. following a JV game versus Vanguard
University at 5:00 p.m.
