CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team suffered their first home and SCIAC loss of the season as they fell to California Lutheran University 65-60 on Saturday afternoon at Voelkel Gymnasium.
 
Season Impact: With the loss, the Sagehens fall to 11-3 overall and 3-1 in SCIAC play.
 
The Sagehens were led by Jasper Hedin who tallied 13 points in the loss. Ty Bergman and Joe Cookson both notched double-doubles as Bergman had 12 points and 11 rebounds with Cookson at 12 points and 11 board.
 
The two top teams in the SCIAC faced off in Claremont for the first time this season and had a physical, low-scoring game between the two. The Sagehens outshot Cal Lutheran from the floor with 45% to Cal Lutheran's 39, but the Kingsmen did their damage from beyond the arc shooting at a 37.5% clip and Pomona-Pitzer at 26.3%. The rest of the stat lines were tight between the two teams, but the Sagehens were uncharacteristically bad at the free throw line hitting on just 5-12 for 41.7%.  
 
Sagehens started with a 7-0 run to start the half but was met by an immediate 7-0 run by Cal Lutheran to tie the game with just under five minutes gone in the first half.
 
Sagehens held the lead for most of the first half until The Kingsmen shooters started to heat up and after an 11-2 run, took a 26-20 lead with 7:18 left in the first half to force the Sagehens to burn a timeout.
 
The Sagehens came back and tied the game late in the first half after a three by Peyton Mullarkey made it 29-29 with 2:12 left in the first half, but Cal Lutheran ended the half with a last-second three and held a 34-29 lead over the Sagehens heading into the break.
 
The Kingsmen kept their lead over the Sagehens for the first five minutes of the second half until the lead changed hands after an Owen Avdalovic layup put Pomona-Pitzer up 42-41 with 13:26 to go.  Cal Lutheran regained the lead and kept it the rest of the way, but the Sagehens still hung around trailing by less than six points for the remainder of the half. 
 
Pomona-Pitzer got it back to a one-possession game after a layup by Hedin brought the score of 56-53, but Cal Lutheran stayed solid at the free throw line and closed out the game to hand the Sagehens their first home and SCIAC loss of the season.
 
Up Next: The Sagehens will have a quick turnaround as they host La Verne on Monday, January 15^th at 7:00 p.m.