LA VERNE, Calif. (Jan. 23, 2010) – When you look at the stat sheet from tonight's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference between the University of La Verne and Occidental, the Leopards held the advantage in shooting percentage and rebounding, but the difference maker was the Tigers' performance at the free-throw line, going 20-for-22 overall with Jack Hanley and Huston Conti shooting a combined 14-for-14 as the Black and Orange defeated ULV 71-67 at the Frantz Athletic Court.

In a game that Oxy led by 12 points with 10:57 to go in the second half after leading 27-24 at the intermission, the Leopards went on a 17-2 run that included three three-pointers from the game's highest scorer Trevor Woodland to give ULV their first lead since the 6:47 mark of the first half.

Trailing by four-points with just 2:57 remaining in regulation, Occidental looked to its senior guard, Conti, who launched up a three-pointer from well beyond the arc to pull the Tigers within a point, but a foul allowed him the opportunity to knot the game back up. With the and one, Conti did just that, pulling the teams even at 59-59.

Things teeter-tottered over the next minute, but Occidental then jumped on Hanley's shoulders as he sank a pair of his eight free-throws to put the Tigers up 63-62 and Deshun McCoy supplied a jumper before Peter Gierlach added a free-throw to give Oxy a 66-62 advantage. On back-to-back possessions with less than 12 seconds remaining, ULV nudged their way to within a pair, but Hanley went 4-for-4 over the final nine seconds of the game to secure the victory for the Tigers.

Four players were perfect at the line for Oxy tonight as Sean Anderson and David Ostrow joined Conti and Hanley.

The Tigers, who shot 42% from the field, got a team-high 21 points from Conti, followed closely by Hanley who finished with 19. Also reaching double figures tonight were Anderson (12) and McCoy (11).

On the glass, Oxy was out-rebounded by ULV, 36-30, but McCoy led all players with eight while Eric Leider chipped in with six and Anderson came down with five, four of which were offensive boards. Anderson also had the only Oxy block of the night.

While the Leos shot 43% from the field and 39% from behind the arc, Woodland finished with a game-high 23 points, connecting on five treys for the game. The difference was free-throws in which ULV was 8-for-12.

Occidental improves to 12-4 overall and now hold a 4-1 SCIAC record while La Verne falls to 5-11, 1-4. Wednesday, Jan. 27, the Tigers will travel to the University of Redlands to face off with the Bulldogs (8-8, 4-1) at 7:30 p.m.