LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Jack Hanley took the Tigers on his back, scoring a career-high 33 points, but it was not enough as a the Occidental College men's basketball team was eliminated from contention for Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Post Season Tournament bid, falling 70-66 tonight to Cal Lutheran University at Rush Gymnasium despite a late come-back effort.

"Cal Lutheran played an outstanding game," head coach Brian Newhall said following the game. "That is the most points that we have given up in a SCIAC game this season and they did it on our home court."

The Tigers never lead tonight and turned nine CLU turnovers into 16 points, but an incredible shooting night from the Kingsmen, including a 6-for-8 three-point shooting effort in the second half, was too much for the Tigers to overcome.

"Their overall field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage were outstanding," Newhall noted.

Cal Lutheran led from start to finish but missed free-throws down the stretch, which gave Oxy hope.

A fast start featuring five quick points by Greg Grimm, a dunk by Aaron Van Klaveren followed by a fast break assist from Xavier Walton to Jayvaughn Nettles gave Cal Lutheran an early 9-2.

Newhall commended the play of CLU. "Grimm, Nettles and Van Klaveren made plays all evening and we had no answer for them," he went on, "Nettles and Grimm are very good perimeter players; Both can shoot and drive; Both play very hard."

The Kingsmen held a double-digit margin throughout a majority of the second half, but the Tigers would not go quietly.

Hanley willed the Tigers back to life scoring 25 of his career-high 33 points in the second half. Along with two clutch triples by Sam Stapleton, his only points of the game, Occidental nearly pulled off the comeback.

Following a backcourt turnover by CLU, Stapleton knocked down a three pointer cutting the lead to 52-44 with 7:10 left, shifting the momentum and revitalizing a quiet crowd inside Rush Gymnasium.

Stapleton matched the feat with under two minutes remaining cutting the margin to eight. Following a five-second inbounds violation on the Kingsmen, a quick layup by the Tigers pulled them within 64-58 with 1:32 left.

From then on the Tigers employed a strategy that involved fouling to force the Kingsmen to knock down their free throws.

Occidental pulled to within five at the one minute mark and a layup by Jake Copithorne made it a three point game.

After the second half scoring machine Hanley missed a contested layup with 37 seconds left, CLU's Steven Davis grabbed the rebound and the CLU coaching staff called timeout to maintain possession.

Jeremy Sulker-Hall, CLU's second best free throw shooter and a freshman facing a pressure situation, calmly knocked down a pair at the charity stripe to temporarily halt the comeback.

Following another missed Oxy layup, Grimm hustled after a loose ball and an around the back pass to save the possession led to a CLU layup to put the Kingsmen up seven and end any serious threat of the Tigers completing their comeback effort.

The Tigers were tough on the glass, finishing with 34 rebounds, four more than CLU, with 12 offensive, which they converted into seven points, but eight CLU offensive boards turned into 10 second chance points for the Violet and Gold.

Copithorne and Van Klaveren grabbed 10 rebounds for the Tigers and Kingsmen, respectively.

"Hanley played his heart out," Newhall added, "Copithorne was rock solid on the boards again. We needed to give them more help."

Hanley had three of the six Tigers' steals and handed out a game-high four assists while Stapleton finished with three and Copithorne added a pair.

Drew Dockweiler and Ty Cobb added six rebounds apiece and Dockweiler was the only other Tiger to reach double figures with 10 on 4-for-7 shooting. Kris Montoya supplied a pair of blocks for the Black and Orange, chipping in with eight points.

Occidental (12-12, 6-7) will head next door to Pasadena on Tuesday, Feb. 22 to conclude their season against the Caltech Beavers at 7:30 p.m. following the women's game.

Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director