By Nathan Barnett, PO '11

CLAREMONT — After taking a 29-21 lead into the break at home, the Sagehens lost the second half by fifteen, dropping to 3-8 in conference play and 7-15 overall on Saturday night by a final score of 56-49. Pomona-Pitzer continues to defend the 3-point shot extremely well this season, as they lead the nation in that category (26.6%) and gave up just 30% shooting from behind the arc to Occidental, but the Tigers shot nearly 60% from the floor in the second half on 13-of-22 shooting to pull away from the Sagehens.

In the first encounter between the two teams this season, back on January 22, the Sagehens shot under 25% from the floor in a 42-30 loss on the road. Coming off of their win at home against Caltech, they looked to be turning a new page, as they shot 44% from the field, led by Xavyr Moss (SO, Federal Way, WA) and his 14 first half points.

Midway through the second half, however, after Donald Akpalugo (SO, Manchester, UK) made a jump shot to extend the Sagehen lead to 45-35, the Sagehens would go ice cold while the Tigers caught fire, eliminating the lead on a 14-3 run to take the lead 49-48 with 3:46 remaining. The Sagehens would miss some key free throws down the stretch, going just 3-of-9 from the stripe in the second half, and it was all Tigers in the final 3:46, as they capped the game with another big run to win 56-49.

Junior Jack Hanley led the way for the Tigers with 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting including 2-of-2 from downtown.

The Sagehens go on the road this week to face La Verne (12-10, 7-4 SCIAC) and Redlands (11-11, 8-2 SCIAC) before returning home for the season finale against their bitter rivals CMS (13-8, 9-2 SCIAC) on Feb 22.