CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team notched their third consecutive SCIAC Tournament Championship with a 76-71 win over Chapman on Sunday afternoon at Roberts Pavilion.

Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 21-4 overall and have now three-peated as the SCIAC Regular Season and Tournament Champions. The Sagehens have also punched an automatic ticket into the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight season.

The Sagehens were led by Matthew Eberle who scored a team-high 23 points in the win. The Sagehens had three other players in double digit scoring as Brendan Mora notched a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Pete Boyle had 15 points and seven rebounds while Joe Cookson chipped in with 10 points.

The Sagehens had another great night from the floor at 48.4% but Chapman held the advantage from beyond the arc at 36.7% to the Sagehens' 26.9%. Pomona-Pitzer outrebounded Chapman 37-30 and outscored the Panthers in the paint 34-20. 

The Sagehens and Panthers kept it close early on in the first half with the Sagehens holding a slight lead at 10-8 after the first five minutes expired.  Pomona-Pitzer then sparked a 7-0 run to take a 17-10 lead before Chapman started to chip away and bring it back down to one point at 21-20 with 10 minutes left in the first half.

The Sagehens made a big run towards the end of the first half and after an Eberle three, made it 36-25 with just over five minutes remaining. The Sagehens preserved that lead and Mora capped off the big first half with a three at the buzzer to put the Sagehens on top 48-35 heading into the locker room.

After making a big run going into halftime, the Sagehens exploded out of the gate to start the second and took their largest lead of the game at 20 points with a 57-37 lead and forced Chapman to call a timeout with 16:52 left in the second half. After the timeout, the Panthers completely flipped the game and immediately cut into the Sagehens' lead. Chapman went on a 14-2 run to make it 59-51 and got it down to four points at 65-59 with 7:42 left on the clock. 

Chapman continued to pressure the Sagehens and then got their three-ball working late in the second half and eventually took their first lead at 71-70 since early in the first half. With the Sagehens needing a big bucket, it was Cookson who came up big with a layup to put the Sagehens back on top at 72-71.

The Sagehen defense came up big as Eberle made a huge chase down block on the potential go-ahead bucket and the Sagehens went to the line with a chance to put the game away.  Mora came up big with two made free-throws and the defense held as the Sagehens held off Chapman for the SCIAC Tournament Championship.

Up Next: The Sagehens will await the NCAA Selection Show to find out where they will be going in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.