Claremont, Calif. - Senior guard Adrian Brandon hit the tying three-pointer with 12 seconds left of the first overtime and had the winning tip in with six seconds left in the second overtime, as the Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team won a thrilling 89-87 decision over No. 15 Chapman on Saturday evening at Voelkel Gymnasium. 

The win was the fourth in a row for Pomona-Pitzer after getting most of its key players back from injury, as the Sagehens now stand at 6-13 overall and 4-5 in the SCIAC. Chapman, which was undefeated coming into the week at 16-0, falls to 16-2 overall and 8-2 in the SCIAC after falling at Cal Lutheran on Thursday evening. 

Brandon finished with a career-high 22 points for the Sagehens, to go along with nine rebounds and five assists, while senior guard Michael Cohen had a game-high 26 points and five assists and senior guard Kyle McAndrews added 16. Colin Zavrsnick had 24 points for Chapman, and Taylor Hamasaki added 22, as the guards for both teams had a big night. 

Zavrsnick hit a three-pointer from the left corner with 56 seconds left in the first overtime to give Chapman a 77-74 lead. Cohen hit an 18-footer to close the lead to one, but Justin Young hit two foul shots to make it a 79-76 game. The Sagehens ran a play to get a three-pointer for Joe Eyen, but Chapman read the cut, and Eyen wisely pulled the ball back down and kicked it to the top of the key, where Brandon buried a clean look with 12 seconds left to tie the game. Hamasaki had a chance to win with a long three, but it hit off the rim, and junior Gibson Farone-Collins pulled down the rebound to send the game to a second overtime. 

The game went back and forth in the second extra session, as Farone-Collins started it off with a dunk off a feed from Brandon, and Brandon added a fast break dunk to put the Sagehens ahead 85-81. Zavrsnick responded with a tough, contested three-pointer from the top of the key, and a Hamasaki driving lay-up gave the Panthers the lead. Cohen broke down the Chapman defense for a go-ahead lay-up with 1:22 left, and the Panthers knotted the score up with a foul shot with 43 seconds left. 

After the Sagehens worked the shot clock down, Cohen again broke the defense down, and had his contested right-handed lay-up spin off the rim. However, Brandon flew in from the weak side and was first to the ball, tipping it up, off the rim and off the backboard and in. Chapman pushed the ball immediately, and Zavrsnick had a good look at a winning three-pointer from the corner, but it hit off the rim, and time expired before he could get off a tying two-point jumper, as the Sagehens held on for the dramatic win. 

It was the second weekend in a row that Pomona-Pitzer defended its home court in a dramatic win. Last weekend, a three-point play from McAndrews on a circus shot gave the Sagehens a 58-57 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. It was also the second year in a row that Pomona-Pitzer has defeated Chapman in double overtime at home, after winning 93-85 last year behind a career-high 32 points from McAndrews.

Pomona-Pitzer appeared to have the game in control and not require any drama, as it took a 13-point lead with 6:43 left on a Cohen three-pointer. Chapman, though, answered with a quick 10-0 run to cut the lead to 65-62, before Cohen knocked down another big three-pointer with 2:02 left to push the lead to six. 

Hamasaki and Garrett James each hit jumpers around four McAndrews foul shots, and then Hamasaki buried a tough three-pointer from the top of the key to close the gap to 72-69 with 37 seconds left. The Sagehens missed some chances to close the game out, and Hamasaki was fouled in the act of shooting a tying three-pointer with five seconds left. He made the first, but had the second roll around the rim and fall off.

After a timeout, he missed the third shot deliberately, and Pomona-Pitzer had the rebound momentarily, but the ball came free, and Justin Young laid it up and in with two seconds left to send the game into overtime. 

Farone-Collins added 10 points off the Sagehen bench, while John Joyce had a double-double for Chapman with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Justin Young added 11. 

Pomona-Pitzer is back in action on Tuesday when it travels to Cal Lutheran for a 7:30 p.m. contest.  

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