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Los Angeles, CA — Oxy men's basketball battled it out with CMS in a fight for 3rd place in the SCIAC as both teams entered Wednesday night's game with a 3-1 conference record.

Oxy started the game on a strong note with a nice 9-3 run in the first 2 minutes of the game that was capped off by an Aiden Williams made layup. The lead got up to 10 points after Jacob Koretz and Nicky Clotfleter each had made baskets.

CMS quickly responded and got the lead down to 5 points after cashing in a 3-pointer with 13 minutes to play in the first half. Oxy put a 6-0 offensive scoring run together on made 3-pointers from Aiden Williams and Jacob Koretz to take a 23-13 lead in the game. 

Andrew Waldman would have a personal 5-0 run later, making a 3-pointer and a jumper to give Oxy a 30-19 lead with 8 minutes left in the 1st half. CMS refused to go away in this one and put together a 13-2 run of their own to tie the game at 32. The Stags would make a 3-pointer to end the half and Oxy trailed 41-37 heading into the break.

CMS tried to strike early in the 2nd half and got their lead up to 9 points within a minute of play. The Tigers would also refuse to give in as they quickly responded with 3-pointers from Aiden Williams and Micah Breaux to go on a 6-0 run and get within 3 points. Williams would knock down another 3 and the game was tied at 46 before Henry Wilson made a layup and gave the Tigers a 2 point lead with 15 minutes to go in the game. 

From that point on the game was extremely well played by both teams as they made quick passes to put together scoring opportunities in a fast paced game. Oxy held a 63-60 lead after Andrew Waldman scored a layup with 7 minutes left in the game but CMS took the lead on a 3-pointer 3 minutes to go. 

Williams responded for the Tigers with a steal and a fastbreak layup to tie the game at 65 each. After CMS took the lead with a jumper, Waldman tied the game at 67 with a layup in the paint with only 45 seconds left. After securing a rebound from a missed CMS layup, the Tigers called a timeout to try to keep possession but unfortunately had none remaining in the game and CMS was awarded two free throws. 

The Stags would convert and take the 69-67 lead that would hold as the final score of the game. Despite the loss in a hard fought contest against a solid team in the conference, the Tigers hold the fourth place spot currently with a 3-2 conference record. 

The Tigers will look to bounce back in a road matchup with the Redlands Bulldogs on Saturday, January 13th at 5pm.