Claremont, Calif. - The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team will play its home opener of the 2011-12 season on Saturday when it hosts St. Thomas (Minn.) at 5 p.m. at Voelkel Gymnasium.
The Sagehens are coming off an impressive performance in their first game of the year, a 59-50 road defeat at Division I Pepperdine. Pomona-Pitzer actually led by as many as six points in the first half (25-19) and by two with 7:30 to play in regulation (36-34), before the Waves went on a 9-0 run and were able to hold on down the stretch. Pepperdine then went on to play its second game of the season on the road at Pac-12 Arizona State and came away with the victory.
Pomona-Pitzer will only have three home games before the new year, as it also hosts one game on Friday, Nov. 25 as part of the David Wells Classic and then has one on Friday, Dec. 16 at the end of final exams against the American University of Sport.
The Sagehens will play their first home game this weekend against an unfamiliar opponent in the University of St. Thomas, which is traveling from Minnesota. However, one Pomona-Pitzer player could be of some use for a partial scouting report. Freshman Jack Klukas (Eden Prairie, Minn.), who started in the opening game against Pepperdine, was high school teammates with three players on the St. Thomas squad - including fellow freshmen Dylan Stewart and Conner Nord, and sophomore Brandon Gay. The quartet helped Eden Prairie finish fourth in the state tournament in 2010, and then second last year (while Gay was a freshman at St. Thomas).
Pomona-Pitzer will try to build off of last weekend's performance at Pepperdine, which saw veteran big men Greg Wright (Oakland, Calif.) and Po Grant (Brookline, Mass.) come off the bench and lead the Sagehens with 12 points and 11 points, respectively. Senior point guard Evan Zahniser (Mercer Island, Wash. - pictured) also had a steady hand running the offense, tallying five assists and one turnover against significant defensive pressure from the Waves.
Live stats and video streaming for the St. Thomas game will be offered on www.sagehens.com.
