Men’s basketball falls in heartbreaking buzzer-beater

ORANGE, Calif. – Despite clawing their way back from a 17-point deficit, the Chapman University men's basketball team fell to visiting Johnson and Wales of Denver 80-77 on a buzzer-beater from freshman Charles Young.

Junior Cam Haslam led the push, scoring the last nine points of the game for the Panthers. The guard put up a team-high 28 points to go along with his five assists and two rebounds.

JWU Denver took their biggest lead just over one minute into the second half when senior King Grant-Perry tore down the court for a dunk. That added some fuel to the Panthers' fire, leading sophomore Chandler White to score the next six points to cut the deficit to 11 points. White and Haslam combined for Chapman's next eight points, but a layup from senior Jordan Miles put the Wildcats back up by 16.

Junior Colin Ferrier converted an and-one to bring the Panthers back within 10 points just over nine minutes left to play. Five consecutive points from JWU Denver brought their lead back to 15 points with eight minutes to play. A couple of clutch three pointers from both Haslam and senior Reed Nakakihara brought the Panthers' deficit to single digits.

White hit a jumper to make the score 71-64 with just under three minutes left to play. Senior Jontrell Herman answered with a three pointer on the next possession to, once again, extend JWU Denver's lead. Haslam dominated the court in the last minute, scoring nine of his 28 total points in the last 48 seconds of play, but the Wildcats' buzzer-beater ended an epic Chapman comeback effort.

White dropped his second double-double in just three games with 21 points and 10 boards. Freshman Daniel Foldes posted nine rebounds to go along with his four points in just under 23 minutes off the bench.

Chapman returns to Hutton Sports Center to continue its home stand on Tuesday, Dec. 18 at 7pm to take in George Fox.

By Katie Bell
Sports Information Assistant

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