CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team won a tight contest in game one of the David Wells Classic 83-76 in overtime over non-conference opponent Linfield on Friday night at Roberts Pavilion.

Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 4-1 overall.

The Sagehens were led by Brendan Mora who went for 18 points and 17 rebounds for his third-straight double-double of the season. Matthew Eberle had 13 points after getting in foul trouble early but played a very important role late going 8-8 from the line. Ty Bergman and Joe Cookson provided a spark off of the bench for the Sagehens with 13 and 10 points respectively. 

The Sagehens fell behind early in the first half due to their struggles from beyond the arc in the first half. Linfield had a 17-5 advantage in the first five minutes of the first half, but the Sagehen defense showed up and stopped Linfield for nearly nine minutes to allow Pomona-Pitzer to get back into the game at 19-15 with just under seven minutes to play before halftime.

Pomona-Pitzer cut it down to one point at 22-21 with three minutes left in the first half but Linfield stayed on top and held a two-point lead at 29-27 heading into the locker room. The Sagehens shot just 8.3% from three and 26.7% from the field but only trailed by two.

Pomona-Pitzer came out and immediately grabbed their first lead of the game after a pair of Mora free throws made it 33-31 with 17:41 left to go. The second half stayed tight with neither team getting more than 7 points away from one another. The Sagehens took their largest lead of the game with 8:27 left to play after a Mora layup put the Sagehens on top 50-43, but Linfield came back late with some great three-point shooting and took a 68-62 lead with 1:13 left to play. The Sagehens made a huge comeback with late game heroics from Owen Avdalovic who hit a late three-pointer and then had the game-tying put back as time expired to send the game into overtime tied at 69-69.

Although the Sagehens struggled from the stripe in regulation, they went 8-10 in overtime to separate themselves from Linfield who was just 2-13 from the floor in overtime as the Sagehens won a big comeback game in game one of the David Wells Classic. 

Up Next: The Sagehens will next host Whitworth in the final game of the David Wells classic on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.