Oxy Edged at La Verne After Slow Start

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LOS ANGELES — Ty Cobb scored 13 points off the bench on 5 of 5 shooting.

But the Occidental College men's basketball team let a double-digit second-half lead slip away in a painful loss at La Verne on Wednesday, 61-58.

With a one-point lead and the game coming down to a defensive stop, La Verne's Ronn See made an underhanded shot with his left hand from inside the paint to go up one and win the game.

Juwan Rice had a pair of contested looks on the other end that just missed.

"It was a tough one to let go especially after we shook off the slow start," Oxy coach Brian Newhall said.

The Tigers shot just 27 percent from the field in the first half and looked about as sluggish as they have all season, trailing 24-21. In the second half, they came out much more energetic, pressing their way into easy baskets in transition, many of them finished by Cobb, who also had five rebounds.

At about the 8-minute mark a 49-35 Oxy lead started to tip as the Tigers committed silly fouls in the back court — while in the bonus — giving the Leopards 10 quick points from the foul line without any time running off of the clock.

Kris Montoya scored 13 points. Rice and Spencer Levy each had 11.

See led La Verne with 15 points and Weston Newell added 13.

The Tigers fall to 7-9 and 3-5 in SCIAC play.

Oxy is back in action on Jan. 29, hosting Cal Lutheran at 7:30 p.m.

"We'll bounce back," Newhall said. "We get another chance next week against Cal Lu."