Box Score CLAREMONT, CA. – Senior Micah Elan set the new All-Time Career Scoring Record as the Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team defeated Occidental 60-50 in the SCIAC Postseason Semifinals on Friday night at Voelkel Gymnasium.
With the win, the Sagehens advanced to the SCIAC Tournament Championship for the second consecutive season with a 21-5 overall record and 13-3 in SCIAC play. The Sagehens also set another record tonight as the senior class now more wins than any four-year class that has come through Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball with 75 wins in four years.
The Sagehens were led by the pair of Elan and junior Alex Preston who each shared a team-high 17 points in the win. Preston added 13 rebounds as well for the double-double while senior Adam Rees threw in 12 points as well.
A low scoring affair from the field with both teams at 32% from the floor for the night. The Sagehens held a slight advantage on the three ball shooting at a 27.3% clip while Occidental hit on just 11.8% of its shots from beyond the arc. Pomona-Pitzer dominated the boards outrebounding Occidental 48-30. Both teams had around the same points inside the paint but the Sagehens held the advantage on second chance points, 14-6.
Occidental came out and scored the first point of the game to take a 2-0 lead and that was all the time that the Tigers spent with the lead after the Sagehens responded with an 11-2 run to take an 11-4 lead after an Elan three. Elan wasted no time setting the career points record as he came into today's game needing nine points to become the solo leader and got that within the first four minutes of the game.
The Sagehens controlled the pace of play in the first half after sophomore Matthew Eberle hit a big three to put the Sagehens up double digits at 18-8 just over the midway point in the first half. Despite the Sagehens not having a great half scoring the basketball, the defense was stellar as they held the Tigers to just 25.9% from the field and 0-8 on their three point attempts in the first half to hold Occidental to just 16 points at halftime. The Sagehens had a chance to put the Tigers away in the first half and tacked on some buckets late to extend their lead to 29-16 heading into the locker room.
Pomona-Pitzer came out in the second half and put up some early offense to take their largest lead of the night at 37-22 after a Rees and-one with 15:53 left to go. The Tigers slowly began to chip away at the Sagehens' lead and got it to within 10 at 43-33 with just over ten minutes remaining.
Pomona-Pitzer then went on their largest scoring drought of the game as the Sagehens failed to score a point in the next seven minutes that allowed Occidental to come within three four points at 43-39 before a wide open three by senior James Kelbert put the Sagehens up 43-39 with 3:01 left to play. The Tigers gave the Sagehens a scare, but Pomona-Pitzer hit some big shots late and closed the game out at the free-throw line to win and advance to the SCIAC Tournament Championship.
The Sagehens will face off against Redlands in the SCIAC Tournament Championship tomorrow night, Saturday, February 29th at 7:00 p.m.
