LOS ANGELES — Deshun McCoy (Los Angeles) had a big first half, but the Occidental College men's basketball team got off to a slow start and never quite recovered, losing its season finale to Cal Lutheran University 65-54 at Rush Gymnasium on Saturday.

The Tigers SCIAC postseason hopes were eliminated three days before when they came eight points short of knocking off No. 11 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday night.

Against the Kingsmen, Oxy went more than six minutes before scoring its first field goal. McCoy, who came off of the bench, finally got the Tigers (6-8, 10-14 SCIAC) on the board with 13:40 left in the first half, ending an 11-0 Kingsmen (11-13, 7-7 SCIAC) run to start the game.

McCoy had 13 points in the period on 5 for 6 from the field, but the Tigers went into the locker room trailing 37-25.

In the second, Oxy trailed by as many as 19 points before Kris Montoya (Portland, Ore.), Conrad Liebowitz (Santa Monica), Sam Stapleton (Los Angeles) and Ty Cobb all scored during a 10-2 run that brought the Tigers within 11 with 4:43 to play. Oxy struggled down the stretch though managing just one made field goal, a Liebowitz layup, with 48 seconds left.

Jack Hanley (Seattle), a three-time All-SCIAC selection, played his last game as a Tiger. Oxy's two other graduating seniors did not play. Jake Copithorne (Newton Centre, Mass.) and Jeff Irwin (Baltimore, Mary.), both team captains, were out with injuries.

Liebowitz scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Tigers.

Cal Lutheran had three players in double figures. Jayvaughn Nettles led the way with 16, followed by Mike Harris with 15 and Aaron Van Klaveren with 10.

The Tigers lose Hanley, Copithorne and Irwin, but have some pieces to build around this offseason.

McCoy was among the top 10 SCIAC scorers, and he and Liebowitz both ranked in the top five in rebounds per game.

"We wish our graduating seniors the best as they move on to the next phase of their lives and look forward to our younger guys growing as basketball players this offseason," Occidental coach Brian Newhall said.