CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team fell in the Semifinals of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament to Cal Lutheran 79-73 on Friday night at Voelkel Gymnasium.

Season Impact: With the loss, the Sagehens fall to 20-6 overall. 

The Sagehens were led by Brendan Mora who had a game-high 25 points and 7 rebounds in the loss. Three other Sagehens reached double-digits as Hayden Moser ended with 14, Ty Bergman with 13, and Joe Cookson with 12.

The Sagehens ended with a percentage higher from the field as they shot 49% to Cal Lutheran's 48%, but the Kingsmen lit up the game from beyond the arc at 46% from three. The Sagehens outrebounded Cal Lutheran 31-24 and outscored them 44-24 in the paint, but the Sagehens couldn't overcome the big first half from the Kingsmen.

Good offense early for both teams with scoring from inside the paint with the Kingsmen up 11-8 at the first media timeout with just under 16 minutes left in the first half. The Sagehens' struggled to keep up with the Kingsmen offense in the first half as Cal Lutheran went unconscious from three. The Kingsmen shot at 52.6% from three and hit on 62.5% of their shots from the floor.

The Sagehens tried to keep it close with Cal Lutheran answering every big shot by Pomona-Pitzer. Bergman stopped the bleeding with a three to make it 35-22 with 7:44 left in the first half, but the Kingsmen shooters kept firing right up until the last shot of the first half with a three at the buzzer to make it 53-34 heading into halftime.

Facing their largest deficit at halftime this season, the Sagehens needed to start to chip away at the big Cal Lutheran's lead. The Kingsmen cooled down a bit from three as the Sagehens got it down to 11 points at 60-49 until a big three from Cal Lutheran put the Kingsmen back up 63-49 at the 12-minute media timeout. Pomona-Pitzer broke through the 10-point deficit after Cookson nailed a three to make it 70-63 and then the Sagehens climbed all the way back to make it a one-possession game at 74-71 after a big Moser three with 1:53 remaining. 

The Sagehens forced a turnover and Mora made a layup to cut the deficit to just one point at 74-73, but the Kingsmen answered with a big jumper at the other end to push their lead back up to three.  Pomona-Pitzer went for the tie with a three from Bergman, but it rattled in and out and the Sagehens were then forced to foul.  Cal Lutheran was able to ride their big first half and close the game out at the line to hand the Sagehens their first loss in 12 games.

The Sagehens will now wait for the decision from the committee to see if they receive an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.