Sagehens make quick work of the Chapman men

ORANGE, Calif. – In a game that took less than an hour and a half to complete, the visiting Pomona-Pitzer Colleges men's basketball team handed Chapman University a 51-44 defeat at the Hutton Center on Wednesday night. The loss was Chapman's season-high third straight and sent the Panthers into a three-way tie for the fourth and final SCIAC Tournament spot with four games remaining.

Chapman (11-10 overall, 6-6 SCIAC) never led after the 9:28 mark in the first half, though it kept close and threatened several times. After the lead exchanged hands multiple times at the start, Pomona-Pitzer (13-7 overall, 8-4 SCIAC) turned a two-point deficit into an eight-point lead with just 1:41 left before the break thanks to a 15-5 run.

Trailing 27-21 at halftime, Chapman rallied to cut the deficit to two on a three-pointer by junior G Brendon Rider at the 15:24 mark to make it 33-31 Sagehens. Pomona-Pitzer responded immediately with an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game 41-31 with 9:53 left in the contest.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Panthers' sophomore G Jordan Young, and later another bucket from Rider got Chapman back within three points with less than 5 minutes to play, but the Sagehens quelled any shot at a comeback by making free throws down the stretch.

Pomona-Pitzer shot 50 percent from the field (21-for-42) and was led by junior F Jake Klewer who scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the win. Senior F Donald Okpalugo also pitched in 10 points and five boards off the bench. The third-place Sagehens now own a two-game cushion in the standings over Chapman, Whittier and La Verne who are all tied for fourth.

Young led all scorers with 12 points, coming on 4-for-5 shooting from three-point range. Chapman out-rebounded Pomona 29-26, including an 11-5 advantage on the offensive glass, but shot just 34.8 percent (16-for-46) from the field. That marked the third straight game (all losses) the Panthers have shot less than 35 percent.

Chapman matches up head-to-head with Whittier in a battle for fourth place on Saturday night at Hutton Center at 7:30 p.m., trying to get its SCIAC record back over .500.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20130206_0j0r.xml

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