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Los Angeles, CA — Occidental men's basketball was in action on the road in Gilbert Arena against the California Lutheran Kingsmen. 

The game would start out closely contested as both teams were playing strong defense. Andrew Waldman scored 4 of Oxy's first 7 points before Jacob Hamermesh knocked down a 3-pointer to get Oxy within 1 point of the Kingsmen with a score of 11-10.

After Nicky Clotfelter made a jumper in the paint to give the Tigers a 1 point lead, Cal Lu responded with a quick 6-0 run to take a 5 point lead. Oxy responded right back with a 3-pointer from Jacob Koretz and a made jumper from Andrew Waldman and the game was tied at 17 with 7 minutes left in the 1st half. 

Cal Lutheran would close the half out strong with a 13-2 run until the 2:36 minute mark in the half to take a 30-19 lead. Oxy responded with baskets from Koretz and a 3-point play from Nicky Clotfelter to cut into the lead and make the score 33-24 going into halftime. 

In the 2nd half, the Kingsmen came out looking to put Oxy away and quickly put some points on the board and took a 13 point lead with 17 minutes left in the game. Oxy refused to go away and an Aiden Williams made 3-pointer had the lead back down to single digits only a minute later in the game. 

The Tigers would stay within striking distance for much of the 2nd half before putting together a solid run to get the game within 6 points. The run started with a Henry Wilson made layup to make the deficit 10 points before Nicky Clotfelter got to the line and knocked down 2 free throws to make it an 8 point game. Clotfelter then made a layup to get the Tigers within 6 points with 7:45 left in the game. 

The next basket of the game came on a Micha Breaux made 3-pointer and the score was quickly only 58-55 in favor of Cal Lu. After a quick Cal Lu offensive run and then a response by Oxy, Breaux was sent to the free throw line and made them both to get Oxy within 2 points with 4 minutes left in the game. 

With 1;35 remaining in the game an Andrew Waldman made layup had the Tigers within 2 points again. A foul sent Cal Lu to the line where they made only 1 of 2 free throws. On the next Oxy possession Aiden Williams nearly tied the game with a 3-pointer but Cal Lu would secure the rebound on the miss and make their free throws to get the win over Oxy. 

The final score would be 73-68 Kingsmen as Cal Lu was able to hand Oxy their first loss of the season. The Tigers are 2-1 in the SCIAC and will next play the University of La Verne Leopards on the road on January 6th at 2pm.