Men's basketball cruises to win over Oxy

ORANGE, Calif. – The winning streak reached eight for the Chapman University men's basketball team as it cruised to a 98-81 victory over visiting Occidental on Wednesday. The Panthers (17-2, 10-2 SCIAC) built an insurmountable lead early in the second half and cruised to the win.

Chapman never trailed in the game and led by as many as 36 points in the second half before Occidental caught fire in the final nine minutes of the game to whittle the margin down under 20 points. Senior Chandler White came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting. White used his size advantage at the rim to fuel the efficient night and also hit 3-of-4 three-point tries.

Three minute into the game, the Tigers had the game tied at 8-8. Senior Hayden Moore responded with his first three-pointer of the night to make it 11-8 with 16:31 to go and the Panthers led the rest of the way. Moore went on to knock down five three-pointers and finished the night 18 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists.

Jack Roggin scored 21 points and Anthony Smith added 15 points to go along with three blocks and five rebounds. Alex Rogat had eight points and eight rebounds as well as three assists.

After an Occidental bucket made it 11-10 early in the game, Chapman sprinted out to a double digit lead with an 11-2 run over a four-minute span. The Panthers had another big run over the final four minutes of the first half as they turned a 12-point lead into 23-point haftime lead. Over the final four minutes, Chapman outscored Oxy 14-3.

The Panthers did not let up in the second half as the lead continued to grow an reached 32 points just two and a half minutes into the second half. The lead reached its pinnacle at 36 points when back-to-back threes from White made it 89-53 with 9:25 to go.

Occidental continued to fight behind a 20-point night from Anthony Holerich, fueled by a 10-for-10 effort at the free throw line, but quickly ran out of time after cutting the deficit to less than 20.

Chapman shot 52.2 percent on the night and scored 42 points in the paint.

With the SCIAC Tournament expanding to eight teams, the Panthers can clinch a top-4 seed and a home game in the SCIAC Tournament Quarterfinals with a win or Caltech loss on Saturday.

The Panthers put their winning streak on the line with a tough road matchup at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday at 2 p.m. Chapman is currently tied with Pomona-Pitzer for first place in the standings with CMS just one game behind.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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