Photo by samsphotoservices.com

Los Angeles, CA — The Oxy men's basketball team was in action at Rush Gymnasium for a SCIAC matchup with the Whittier Poets. 

The game would start out back and forth and both teams would exchange made baskets. Sydney Shipp would make back to back layups to stretch out a Tiger lead to 9 points with 13:17 remaining in the 1st half. 

Oxy would go on a nice run as Aiden Williams and Anthony Hollerich would make 3-pointers to extend the lead to 28-15 in favor of the Tigers. The Tiger's lead would balloon to 18 points as Hollerich and Shipp were leading the way, being tied for the game high of 12 points at the half. 

The Poets were not quite ready to go away in this game and came out in the 2nd half and immediately made a layup and a 3-pointer to cut down the deficit. By the time 5 minutes had gone by in the half, Whittier had gotten the lead down to 9 by making multiple 3-pointers. 

Hollerich and Shipp would continue to play a great game to try to keep the Poets at bay. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Tigers went on a run that would put them in the driver's seat to win the game. It began with an Andrew Waldman made layup that was followed  by a nice layup from Shipp. 

After a Poet turnover, Williams would cash in a 3-pointer before Shipp would make yet another layup. On the next Whittier possession the Tigers would get a defensive stop and Williams would make another 3-pointer on the other end that gave Oxy a 74-57 lead. 

Hollerich would make clutch free throws down the stretch in this game and despite Whittier making a few 3-pointers at the end Oxy would hold on to a 93-88 win. 

Sydney Shipp was the player of the game for the Tigers as he finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. Andrew Waldman also had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. 

Aiden Williams was once again lights out from 3-point range, shooting 5-7 on his attempts on his way to scoring 19 points. Anthony Hollerich also contributed 23 points and Jacob Hamermesh was seeing the floor well, picking up 5 assists off of the bench. 

Next Game: The Tigers will travel to Orange County to take on Chapman on Saturday, January 14th for a SCIAC matchup.