LOS ANGELES— Despite a momentum-changing 20-4 second half run with 14 minutes remaining in the game, the Occidental men's basketball team couldn't hold off the hot three point shooting of West Coast Baptist 74-70 at Rush Gymnasium.  

Midway through the second half, the Tigers (2-4) turned the game into a track meet, pushing the ball upcourt in transition. The run took off from several jumpers by Deshun McCoy (Los Angeles), but caught fire on a Ryan Chong (San Diego) steal, leading to another short jumper by McCoy (Los Angeles). Chong then hit a layup, and Sam Stapleton (Los Angeles) nailed a deep pullup three. The biggest play came from McCoy's and-1 layup to tie the game at 55 with ten minutes to go, as the Black and Orange crowd was revitalized. A reverse layup by Jack Hanley (Seattle, WA) gave the Tigers their first lead since early on, and then a put-back layup by Conrad Liebowitz (Santa Monica) forced the Eagles to call a timeout to stop Oxy's drive.

Clawing their way back from a ten point halftime deficit (40-30), the Tigers looked like they were going to win the game. Yet the tides shifted again as the Eagles remained unfazed, responding with a 13-1 run of their own.

West Coast Baptist's 44 percent three point shooting hurt Occidental all night, but buried them in the final three minutes of the game, as Colton Cochran and Akeem Smith hit back to back threes to seal the deal for the Eagles. Carlos Johnson gave his teammates the memo early on, hitting four threes in the first half en route to a game-high 24 point performance. Following his lead, Smith and Cochran finished with 12 and 10 points respectively.

Oxy too had balanced offensive production, with McCoy and Hanley each scoring 19 points. Especially in the first half, the Tigers efficiently swung the ball around on the perimeter to multiple players, with Jake Copithorne (Newton Centre, MA) adding eight points, and Liebowitz (12 boards) and Stapleton both chipping in with nine. Ty Cobb (4 points) and Chong came off the bench to give solid minutes in the first half.

But offense wasn't the problem for the Tigers—defense was. So far in this early season, the Tigers have shown promising spurts and moments of defensive discipline. But after dropping their last two games, tonight's loss is pivotal for the Tigers to re-group with defensive consistency in mind.

"It was a hard loss," said Occidental coach Brian Newhall. "We haven't been playing our best basketball lately, but we're gradually finding our identity. Everyone's coming back to compete. Now we have to adjust."

"We got too complacent and comfortable," McCoy said. "Consistency starts with our practice habits. We can't be comfortable. We can't be content. Everyone has to be responsible for their man, and no team should get by us one on one. We have to make that mandatory."

The Tigers will look to tighten up their defense at home against American Sports University next Monday at 7 p.m.