CLAREMONT, Calif. (Feb. 23, 2010) – In the Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finale there was
excitement all over the league. With playoff pairings being
discussed for the last 72 hours with every what-if scenario brought
to the table, it all panned out tonight in three different
gymnasiums. For starters, the Occidental College Tigers had their
destiny in their own hands. With a win, they would have clinched
the No. 2 seed and home court advantage for the first round of the
SCIAC Post Season Tournament. Unfortunately, Pomona-Pitzer stole
that opportunity from the Black and Orange, with a 55-54 victory,
shooting the Sagehens from the No. 5 seed to No. 2 when all was
said and done, leaving Oxy as No. 4. The Tigers loss, coupled with
Cal Lutheran and La Verne wins over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and
Redlands, respectively, set the table for Friday night.
But, tonight, things were close at all three games. The Tigers
trailed the Sagehens 32-31 at the intermission and the teams were
tied 11 times with nine lead changes in a game that never saw a
double figure difference. PP led 41-33 with 16:36 to play, but Oxy
quickly erased that deficit with a 10-2 run, pulling back into the
game.
Oxy and PP played tough defense throughout the contest and with
just 16 fouls combined, the teams went to the free-throw line just
seven times altogether. Deshun McCoy was 2-for-2
and Jake Copithorne was 1-for-2 for the Tigers
while Shawn Stephan was 3-for-3 for the Sagehens.
In the first half, Oxy out-shot PP making one more basket
(14-for-28) than the Sagehens (13-for-27) and both teams put in
just nine shots in the second half. The Tigers found a three-point
rhythm in the second half, knocking down 4-for-9, but a 1-for-8
showing in the opening stanza hurt their cause. Jack
Hanley was 3-for-4 from behind the arc as he finished with
13 points.
McCoy led all Tigers with 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting while
adding three assists. Eric Leider led all players
with four. Sean Anderson chipped in with 10
points, adding a team-leading seven rebounds.
Pomona-Pitzer came down with 33 rebounds to Occidental's
31. Twelve of the Sagehens' boards were offensive, with
Justin Sexton pulling down five of his game-high 12 on the
offensive end of the court for the home squad. McCoy grabbed six
rebounds with five coming on the offensive side of the hardwood.
Huston Conti finished with five rebounds and
Copithorne had four. Anderson had two of the Tigers' six
steals as they forced 10 PP turnovers.
In other SCIAC action, CLU (15-10, 9-5 SCIAC) defeated SCIAC
Champion CMS 74-67 (19-6, 11-3) at Gilbert Arena while ULV handed
UR an 88-76 loss in the Franz Athletic Center.
Occidental (17-8, 9-5) will now travel to CMS while CLU will
play at PP (13-12, 9-5). Tip off's are both scheduled for
7:30 p.m. with the two winners advancing to the SCIAC Tournament
Championship game on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with the winner
moving on to the NCAA Division III Tournament to represent the
SCIAC.
Article by: Tracy Maple, Sports
Information Director
