THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Jan. 16, 2010) – The Tigers shot
57% from the field in the first half, connecting for five-of-seven
three-pointers as Occidental College erased a 10-0 deficit at the
start of the game to lead 38-29 at halftime en route to a 72-65
victory over the Cal Lutheran University Kingsmen on the road at
the Gilbert Arena tonight.
After CLU led by 10 early Occidental chipped away and took the
lead with just under six minutes left in the first half when
freshman Eric Leider snapped a 25-25 tie with 4:48
to play, hitting the second of back-to-back
three pointers, which sparked a 14-4 run to close out the half. The
Tigers had 14 points off turnovers in the first half while CLU
finished with just five.
The Kingsmen would pull within a point on an Andrew Meier
three-pointer just under five minutes into the second half, but
that was as close as CLU would get as the Tigers then went on a 6-0
run and led for the final 24 minutes of action.
Each team held a 10-point lead in the game, with Oxy opening up
a double-figure advantage with under three minutes to play when
Peter Gierlach connected for his only bucket of
the game, from behind the arc, to extend the Oxy lead to 67-57.
The Kingsmen hung around cutting the deficit to 67-62 on a Kyle
Knudsen three pointer with one minute left, but a Jack
Hanley three from straight away with the shot clock
expiring put an end to a CLU comeback. Hanley, who tied with
CLU's Greg Grimm for a game-high 19 points, scored the final
five points of the game, and seven of the final 10 points for the
Black and Orange.
Occidental finished the game shooting 49% from the field,
including a 62% (8-for-13) performance from long range with a 67%
(12-for-18) free-throw night.
Huston Conti added 15 points for the Tigers on
5-for-9 shooting, hitting 3-for-5 from long range and
Deshun McCoy put up a double-double with 11 points
and 10 boards, adding four assists, three steals and two blocks.
Sean Anderson also finished with 10 points and six
rebounds.
CLU shot 46% from the field, 39% (5-for-13) from three and 48%
(10-for-21) on free throws. Grimm led all players with five assists
and Knudsen added 17 points and three assists for the Kingsmen with
Meier scoring 16 points while grabbing eight rebounds.
The Kingsmen held a slight advantage on the glass, grabbing 33
rebounds to Oxy's 30 and came away with 12 offensive boards
while the Tigers had eight, five from McCoy. Aaron Van Klaveren led
all players with a season-high 16 rebounds, seven offensive.
Tonight the Tigers took care of the ball, turning it over just
nine times, and capitalized on CLU mistakes, scoring 17 points off
turnovers.
Occidental (10-4, 2-1 SCIAC) will return to Rush Gymnasium on
Wednesday, Jan. 20 when they host the Caltech Beavers at 7:30 p.m.
while Cal Lutheran (7-7, 1-2) will host
Pomona-Pitzer.
