LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Men's basketball hosted the #21 ranked Redlands Bulldogs as the night cap of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader in Rush Gym.
Redlands came out strong and started the game on a 12-4 run to take an early lead. Oxy got back into it with a 4-0 run that included jumpers from Alex McCleery Brown and Nasir Luna.
The Bulldogs stretched the lead back up to 20-11 but Oxy kept getting back into the game and not letting the Bulldogs' lead get out of hand.
The Tigers got the lead all the way down to two points thanks to a layup from Atticus Boba that was followed by a steal from Luna and another made layup from Henry Wilson.
Then Atticus Boba got a steal on the very next possession and ended up knocking down a jumper on that possession to cut the lead to 37-35 in favor of Redlands.
The Bulldogs put together a run of their own to close the half, quickly scoring 7 points thanks to a 3-pointer and an alley-oop dunk to lead 44-35 at the end of one half of play.
Nasir Luna opened the 2nd half by scoring Oxy's first 4 points and with 17:45 left in the half he made a layup with an assist from McCleery Brown to cut the Redlands lead down to 3 points.
Jacob Hamermesh made a floater on the next Oxy possession that cut the lead to 48-47. Oxy would remain right on the heels of the Bulldogs for the majority of the half, and with 12 minutes to play, Luna cashed in on a 3-pointer to tie the game at 57.
The Bulldogs responded with a quick 5-0 scoring strike, but Henry Wilson made a 3-pointer to cut the lead right back down to 2 points. Redlands would score the next 6 points of the game however to take a 68-60 lead with 9:33 to play.
The Tigers had a response immediately once again scoring the next 4 points of the game, including a layup from Zion Staples that made the score 68-64.
This time it would be the last good run the Tigers made in this game, as Redlands lead swelled up to 77-64 with 6 minutes to play, and Oxy struggled to get the lead back down to double digits.
The Bulldogs would win this one by a score of 87-75, and Oxy is now 2-3 in the SCIAC thus far this season and 7-7 overall.
BY THE NUMBERS
Alex McCleery Brown has it all going in the game, scoring a game-high 23 points and he also grabbed 7 boards.
Nasir Luna scored 18 points to go along with 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Henry Wilson knocked down two 3-pointers and had 8 rebounds, leading the Tigers in that category.
Oxy shot more efficiently from the field than the Bulldogs did, but Redlands was able to create more trips to the line where they knocked down 22 of their 29 free throws compared to Oxy making 15 of their 20 FT attempts.
The two teams tied with exactly 43 rebounds apiece, and Oxy shot slightly more efficiently from the 3-point line.
UP NEXT
Men's basketball's next match up is a rescheduled game from 1/8 now being played on Monday, January 27th at home in Rush Gym against the CMS Stags at 7:00pm.
