Luke Selway (photo by Larry Newman)
Luke Selway (photo by Larry Newman)

Men's basketball wins back and forth battle with Caltech

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University men's basketball team came out of a seesaw battle against visiting Caltech with a 64-54 win on Saturday. Sophomore Reed Nakakihara and junior Luke Selway combined for 21 second-half points to lead the late effort.

In a game that featured 13 lead changes, Chapman (10-12, 5-8 SCIAC) took control late in the second half to avenge an earlier season loss to the Beavers. Nakakihara scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half, including a pair of crucial threes, while Selway scored nine of his 11 points off the bench in the second half. Selway knocked down 7-of-8 free throws to fuel the effort, including 5-of-6 free throws in the in the final two minutes to help ice the game.

The teams went back and forth all night with neither building a double digit lead until the waning moments of the game. Caltech provided the eighth lead change of the first half when Bret Jonhson's three-pointer rimmed in at the buzzer to put the visitors up 24-23.

Chapman overcame a slow start, shooting 43.5 percent in the second half and knocking down 4-of-8 three-pointers. Nakakihara hit two of those four in the second half. The first came with Chapman down 39-38 and just under nine minutes to play to give the Panthers a one-point lead. He hit another one less than two minutes later that capped an 8-2 run that saw the Panther go up 46-41.

Chapman led the rest of the way and continued a strong defensive effort that caused 22 turnovers from the Beavers. The Panthers scored 29 points off of those turnovers while Caltech managed just four points off of Chapman's 13 turnovers.

Caltech's Nasser Al-Reyes scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Junior Rob Nelsen scored seven points for the Panthers with four rebounds while senior Josh Cohan added seven points off the bench.

Chapman heads out on the road for its next two games but finishes up the season at home for Senior Night against Occidental on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.

 

by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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