THOUSAND OAKS — With his team down 53-51 on the road with 19.8 seconds left  against Cal Lutheran, reserve guard Juwan Rice (Louisville) attacked hard left off of an on-ball screen, got to the cup and saw an opening to Ty Cobb (Menlo Park) inside.

But just as Cobb got his hands on the ball, a sea of white jerseys collapsed and several arms swiping at the ball kept the junior forward from getting a good look at the basket. On Oxy's next possession with the lead still at two, Ryan Chong (San Diego) had a deep look for three and Rice tossed up fading 15-footer from the baseline off an offensive rebound, but both opportunities rolled off the rim, the second as time expired.

Rice, a mid-year transfer, took his man off the dribble and got to the basket all night, finishing with a career-high 18 points in 24 minutes on 5-for-9 shooting from the field and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. His numerous and-1 plays inside gave Oxy momentum, especially in the first half to take a seven point lead at the break.

"The coaches are always telling me to use my strengths," Rice said. "I'm a fairly quick guard, and they tell me to get the rack, giving me confidence to do that. And my teammates kept encouraging me."

Oxy's full-court press worked well, forcing 19 Cal Lutheran turnovers, including 13 in the first half. In the half court, they managed to keep the Kingsmen off of the scoreboard too and often they limited them to one shot, winning the battle on the boards 34-24.

But the Tigers (1-3 SCIAC, 5-8 overall) themselves had difficulty putting the ball in the basket, shooting just 37.3 percent from the field. The team was scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game, and did not reach double digits until the first 13 minutes had gone by. Rice was the only player to reach double figures.

"We competed hard on defense and on the glass, but we just didn't make enough plays on the offensive end," Occidental head coach Brian Newhall said. "I thought Juwan [Rice] and Ty [Cobb] gave us a great boost off the bench. Our team will continue to work hard and improve."

Cobb put up a strong nine points and 10 rebounds, five of which were offensive.

Cal Lutheran's (1-3 SCIAC, 6-7 overall) game plan was to solely attack the paint, rarely attempting from the outside. Their offense flowed through big man Corey Quintana, who had 17 pts on 7-for-11 shooting. Dan Wade and Jayvaughn Nettles added 12 and 11 points respectively.

The Tigers return to Rush Gymnasium on Jan. 9 to face Caltech. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

"We will bounce back with two good practices and be ready to play against Caltech on Wednesday," Newhall said.

Mirin Fader is the Oxy men's basketball beat writer. She also writes feature stories on Oxy athletes, coaches and alums. She is currently a Team Writer for the Los Angeles Clippers (Clippers.com), and also contributes articles to Dime Magazine (dimemag.com). This past summer, Mirin wrote for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. All of her work, including her archived Oxy stories can be found at her website: mirinfader.com