Bokosky reaches 500 wins, men's basketball wins fourth straight

ORANGE, Calif. – With a 78-65 win over Whittier, Chapman University men's basketball head coach Mike Bokosky earned his 500th career victory – all while leading the Panthers. Chapman won its fourth consecutive game and moved to 13-2 on the season.

In his 29th season, Bokosky became Chapman's first men's basketball coach to reach 500 career victories. He joins a list of three fellow current Chapman coaches to reach 500 career victories – two of which reach the benchmark victory in the last eight months. The all-time winningest coach at Chapman ranks among the top-20 active Division III head coaches for career wins.

Senior Chandler White came off the bench to lead the Panthers to victory for the 500th time in Bokosky's career. He needed just 20 minutes of playing time to score 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range.

Senior Jack Roggin was among three starters in double figures, scoring 15 points. Senior Anthony Giomi added in 15 points to go along with nine rebounds and senior Anthony Smith scored 12 points.

After trailing for most of a tightly contested first half, the Panthers went on a 10-2 in less than a minute and a half to turn a 29-27 deficit into an eight-point lead. Roggin fueled the run with the first six points and Smith finished it off with the last four.

The Poets cut the lead down to four at halftime and took a 48-46 lead with 12:37 left in the game. Senior Hayden Moore responded for Chapman with his first three-pointer of the night to put the Panthers back on top. White followed with another three, Foldes followed a defensive stop when Moore found him slipping to the basket, and the Panthers never trailed again.

The Poets kept the Chapman lead in single digits but Chapman continued to have an answer anytime Whittier started to chip away. The lead reached double digits with just under seven minutes to go although Whittier pushed it back to single digits.

Another Moore three made it an 11-point game with less than 90 seconds remaining as Whittier did not score in the final 1:48 of the game.

Chapman kept pace with the SCIAC leaders as the Panthers improved to 5-2 in the SCIAC season – just a game behind Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Panthers return to the hardwood next Wednesday at Pomona-Pitzer and return home on Feb. 5 to take on Redlands at 2 p.m.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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