REDLANDS, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team took down No. 24 Redlands 93-85 on the road Wednesday night at Currier Gymnasium.
Season Impact: with the win, the Sagehens bounced back to improve to 11-2 overall and 3-0 in SCIAC play.
The Sagehens were led by
Joe Cookson who went for 23 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists for his third double-double and his second in as many games. Pomona-Pitzer had three other players with 15 points as
Peyton Mullarkey,
Jasper Hedin, and
Pete Boyle all chipped in with the win.
Pomona-Pitzer shot very well from the field over 50% at 55.2% and 40% from three hitting on 8-20 from beyond the arc. The Sagehens also held a slight advantage in rebounds at 40-38 and points in the paint at 46-30. Redlands did force the Sagehens to turn the ball over 22 times with their press and converted 28 points off of turnovers, but the Sagehens' big second half propelled them to a road win.
Both teams kept it close in the first half with neither team holding a lead greater than five points for the entire first half. The lead changed hands four times in the first half while the Bulldogs ended the first half with the final basket to take a 39-37 lead into halftime.
The Sagehens came out of halftime and started the second half with a 10-3 run after six points from Mullarkey put the Sagehens up 47-42. The Sagehens kept the lead and expanded it to 10 points after an
Owen Avdalovic jumper made it 58-48 with 13:05 left to play. The Sagehen defense clamped down in the second half as they took their largest lead of the night at 75-58 after a pair of Cookson free throws with 7:22 to go.
After taking a commanding lead, Redlands started to chip away and got back into striking distance with the Sagehens up 85-83 with 1:07 to play. Despite letting the Bulldogs back into the game, the Sagehens stayed solid late with free throws from Cookson and Mullarkey to come away with a red road win in the SCIAC.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host Cal Lutheran on Saturday, January 13
th at 2:00 p.m.
