LOS ANGELES — Andrew Johnson and Spencer Levy each poured in 18 points and the Occidental College men's basketball team competed with a good Pomona-Pitzer squad.

But the second-place Sagehens made a push midway through the second half and were able to edge the Tigers, 68-60 at Rush Gym on Wednesday night.

Oxy falls to 6-8 and 2-4 in SCIAC. Pomona-Pitzer moves to 10-5 and 6-1.

"I was happy with the way we competed tonight we just didn't quite have enough to get over the hump," Oxy head coach Brian Newhall said. "It's a tough stretch for our guys, but we'll rebound. Pomona-Pitzer is well-coached and has some very good players. They're competing for a SCIAC championship so to play well against them is a positive."

John Weiss hit a 3-pointer, giving Pomona-Pitzer its largest lead of the game, 54-46, with 9:35 left.

Johnson, who's played inside and out, grabbed 10 rebounds, along with scoring from the low block and the elbow. The 6-foot-4 freshman was 7 of 14 from the field in a career-high 34 minutes played.

"The next level for Andrew is to defend as well as he's been playing offense and to limit the spurts where fatigue prevents him from being a go-to guy," Newhall said.

Johnson had a string of four consecutive defensive rebounds in the first half, on Pomona-Pitzer misses, that helped Oxy jump out to a 16-7 lead on a layup by Kory Hamane.

Pomona-Pitzer got back in the game on the offensive boards, with Jake Klewer, Gibson Farone-Collins and Nick Nordale doing the bulk of the work.

Klewer, who leads the conference in rebounds, had nine — four on the offense. Farone-Collins led the Sagehens with 10 and Nordale had eight.

Juwan Rice scored 14 points, along with making several important hustle plays for the Tigers during good stretches. The junior guard had three rebounds, a block, a steal, two assists and no turnovers.

The Sagehens finished with four players in double figures. Farone-Collins led the team with 15, Klewer had 13, Kyle McAndrews scored 12 and Nordale chipped in 11.

Oxy is back in action on Saturday at Chapman at 5 p.m.

"We have another chance this weekend," Newhall said. "It came together a little bit tonight and we just have to keep moving forward."