Box Score LOS ANGELES, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team fell to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponent Occidental 87-73 on Saturday afternoon at Rush Gymnasium.
Season Impact: With the loss, the Sagehens fall to 12-4 overall and 6-2 in SCIAC play.
The Sagehens were led by senior Micah Elan who tallied a team-high 18 points and six assists in the loss. Senior Adam Rees had 14 points, sophomore Matthew Eberle had 13 off of the bench and junior Pavle Rohalj chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.
A shorthanded Sagehen squad struggled against a hot shooting Occidental team in today's game with the Tigers shooting 54.1% from the field and 51.9% from three hitting on seven of their 12 attempts. The Sagehens outrebounded the Tigers 39-24 and outscored Occidental in the paint 34-18, but the Tigers had 22 points off 17 Sagehen turnovers and had the better shooting advantage at home.
The Sagehens struggled out of the gate as Occidental kept the Sagehens scoreless for the first five minutes of the first half to allow the Tigers to take an early 9-0 lead. Occidental kept the Sagehens at arm's length throughout the first half and held a 22-12 lead at the midway point of the first half with just over 10 minutes to go before halftime.
The Tigers continued to slowly build their lead over the Sagehens and took their largest lead of the first half at 14 points with 3:01 left to play. The Sagehens were able to get some late baskets to fall at the end of the half and trimmed the lead down to 45-34 heading into the locker room.
The Sagehens kept their deficit right around 10 points for the early stages of the second half but couldn't make up any ground on the Tigers. Occidental went on to make another run around the 10-minute mark of the second half and took their largest lead of the night at 19 points with a 67-48 lead.
Pomona-Pitzer battled back and got the deficit down to 10 points again at 73-63 with 5:18 left to play, but the Tigers wouldn't break as they quickly extended their lead and held off the Sagehens late to give Pomona-Pitzer their second SCIAC loss of the season.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host SCIAC opponent La Verne on Wednesday, January 29th at 7:00 p.m.
