Photo by Max Eve

Los Angeles, CA — The Occidental men's basketball team was in action in their second SCIAC matchup of the season against Whittier College in Rush Gymnasium. 

The Tigers got off to a fast start when Andrew Waldman drove to the hoop on the first play of the game and got the bucket plus the foul to get oxy fired up right away. Henry Wilson and Waldman would lead the way to start the game for Oxy, combining to score the team's first 12 points. 

About halfway through the 1st half, Aiden Williams got in on the scoring and hit a 3-pointer to give Oxy a 15-7 lead in the game. The game remained close for much of the 1st half as both teams were playing strong defense and making it difficult to get good looks at the basket. 

As the 1st half came to a close, Jacob Koretz hit a 3-pointer to put Oxy up 36-27 with 1:53 left in the half. Andrew Waldman followed with a made jumper on the next Oxy possession to extend the lead to 11 points before Nicky Clotfelter made a layup in the paint to close the half. The 1st half came to an end with Oxy in the lead by a score of 40-32. 

Oxy came out in the 2nd looking to put the game away as Koretz and Wilson made layups for the first two baskets in the half. The Tigers would start the half on a 12-2 offensive run that was capped off by made 3-pointers by Jacob Koretz and Aiden Williams and Oxy was quickly up by 20 in the game. 

Oxy would keep their foot on the pedal for the rest of the game and not let Whittier get any closer than within 16 points. The Tigers once again looked great on both sides of the floor and cruised in the 2nd half to a 86-64 conference win. The team improves to 7-0 overall on the year and 2-0 in SCIAC play. 

Aiden Williams was on fire from deep in the game shooting 5-8 from 3-point range and totaling 17 points in the game. Andrew Waldman played a great all-around game for the Tigers nearing a triple-double with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists.

Jacob Koretz had another great scoring game, getting to his spots on the court and knocking down almost half of his shots to score 17 points. Chase Miller was a force on the glass with 10 rebounds and also scored big baskets in the game. Jacob Hamermesh also had a great game for Oxy, almost totaling a double-double with 9 rebounds and 8 points. 

The Tigers will next play an exhibition on the road against UC San Diego on Tuesday, December 5th at 6pm in La Jolla, CA.