Panthers win Lee Fulmer tourney; Bokosky earns 300th win at Chapman
ORANGE, Calif. - Over the weekend, the No. 18 Chapman University men's basketball team held its opponents to 45 points per game en route to three victories and the championship of the 62nd annual Lee Fulmer Men's Basketball Tournament. The Panthers are now 7-0, which is one win shy of their 8-0 start in 2005-06 which happens to be the last time that the Panthers won the Lee Fulmer Tournament which is hosted by the University of Redlands.
The best start to a season in Chapman history came in 1937-38 when they started 12-0 and finished the year 21-2.
Chapman captured the tournament title with a 73-45 win over George Fox University on Saturday evening. With a two-point, first half lead, the Panthers closed out the half on a 14-2 run, pushing its lead to 36-22. Junior F Justin Riley, who earned Tournament MVP, keyed the run scoring six of the Panthers' 14 points during that span.
The second half continued in the Panthers favor as they scored the first eight points of the second half, building its lead to 27 points with 7:49 remaining. Chapman held George Fox to 29 percent shooting (15-51) on the night while out-rebounding them 45-26. Riley led all scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds while senior F Jared Kaiser added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds. For the Bruins, Alex Stockner was the only player to score in double-figures with 14 points and five rebounds.
In the tournament semi-finals on Friday night, Chapman defeated Cal Lutheran 52-45 for its second victory over the Kingsmen this season. The Panthers' defense held CLU without a field goal for the first 8:08 of regulation and led 36-19 at halftime. With just under three minutes remaining in the game, CLU narrowed Chapman's lead to 50-43 but could not get any closer. The 45 points is CLU's lowest offensive output since 2007. Chapman senior G Kyle Wood led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. The Kingsmen were held without a double-figure scorer while three players finished with eight points.
Panthers' head coach Mike Bokosky captured the 300th win of his career at Chapman on Thursday night as the Panthers cruised to a 74-44, opening-round win over U.C. Santa Cruz. Riley had a game-high 17 points and 13 rebounds and sophomores Ben Ricard and Brandon Lin chipped in 10 and nine points, respectively. Santa Cruz was out-rebounded 41-19 and shot 33 percent for the game. The Banana Slugs were led by 14 points from Ryan Matsuoka.
In earning Tournament MVP, Riley averaged 16.3 points and 10.6 rebounds with two double-doubles.
The Panthers will try to match the 8-0 start of the 2005-06 squad when they host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at the Hutton Center on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.