Men's hoops advances on the road, will host SCIAC title game Saturday

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 3 seed Chapman University men's basketball team pulled off a SCIAC Postseason Tournament upset on the road, eliminating host and No. 2 seed Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 69-54 at the Voelkel Gymnasium on Friday night in the tournament semifinal game.

The win coupled with another upset, No. 4 Cal Lutheran over top-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, means the Panthers will host the SCIAC Tournament championship game on Saturday night against Cal Lutheran at the Hutton Sports Center at 7:30 p.m.

Chapman (17-9) maintained control throughout the game, jumping out to a double-digit lead early and taking a 40-33 advantage into the intermission. The Panthers withstood a second-half rally by Pomona-Pitzer (18-8) that saw the Sagehens take a brief 46-45 lead midway through the second half. A 9-1 run late in the game put the Panthers ahead for good as junior G Taylor Hamasaki scored 11 of his team-high 18 points in the half.

Junior G Colin Zavrsnick scored all 14 of his points in the second half and junior C John Joyce pitched in 16 points and seven rebounds for Chapman. Junior F Justin Young led the Panthers with 11 rebounds.

The men will provide the nightcap of a SCIAC championship doubleheader at Hutton Center on Saturday night. The top-seeded women will tipoff in the matinee against No. 2-seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 5 p.m. prior to the men taking on No. 4-seed Cal Lutheran at 7:30 p.m. The winners in each game will earn the SCIAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III postseason tournament.

Chapman and Cal Lutheran (19-7) split a pair of regular season games this year with each winning on the other's home court. The Panthers needed overtime to defeat the Kingsmen 86-82 in their most recent meeting in January, a win that began Chapman's current hot streak have won 8 of 10, including six straight.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/boxscores/20140228_nnys.xml

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