Claremont, Calif. - Junior forward Jake Klewer (Tucson, Ariz.) had 18 points and 18 rebounds as the Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team, which never led in the second half, took an 88-84 overtime win over Clarke on Saturday evening at Voelkel Gymnasium.

Sophomore guard Kyle McAndrews (Seattle, Wash.) had a game-high 22 points, including the final five points of regulation to force the overtime for the Sagehens, who improve to 7-2 on the year with the win. Clarke falls to 6-6 with the loss.

Clarke matched its largest lead of the game at nine points (70-61) with 3:57 left before the Sagehens started their rally. McAndrews drove to the basket and found Klewer for a dunk, and senior guard Xavyr Moss (Federal Way, Wash.), who had 21 points, followed with a short jumper to cut the lead to five at 70-65.

McAndrews then found Moss open in the corner for a three pointer with 1:25 left to cap off a quick 7-0 run and cut the lead to 70-68, before Franz Winkler answered right back for Clarke with a tough contested three-pointer to seemingly give the Crusaders the dagger they needed with 1:05 remaining.

However, a defensive breakdown left McAndrews unguarded on a high screen and he buried a clutch three-pointer to get the lead back down to two points with 49 seconds left. Clarke worked the shot clock all the way down before Luke Cassedy missed a three-pointer, and Klewer secured the defensive rebound.

The Sagehens called timeout over midcourt with 7.8 seconds left and got the ball to McAndrews, who split the defense and forced Clarke to foul to prevent an easy shot in the paint, and McAndrews hit both shots with 4.4 seconds left to tie the game at 73-73. Clarke had just enough time for one desperate end to end rush to win it at the buzzer, but Jake Petersen was forced into a tough running fadeaway from 15 feet that hit the side of the backboard.

On the first possession of overtime, Klewer spun baseline and nearly went out of bounds, but tight-roped the line and found senior forward John Weiss (Cleveland, Ohio) for a three-pointer to give Pomona-Pitzer its first lead since the opening half. A three-point play from Clarke's John Hedrington tied the score 80-80 with 1:59 left, but Klewer pulled down an offensive rebound, got the foul, and made both foul shots to give the Sagehens the lead for good.

Clarke had two chances to tie, but McAndrews came up with a key defensive rebound, and junior guard Armand Gray (San Francisco, Calif.) hit a pair of foul shots to make it a two-possession game. Moss added two foul shots to make the score 86-80, but David Neis hit a tough three-pointer with five seconds left to make the score 86-83. McAndrews missed two at the line that would have sealed it, but the Sagehens fouled on purpose with 2.1 seconds left to prevent a potential tying three, and Klewer grabbed the final defensive rebound off a missed foul shot to seal it.

The Sagehens have won similar dramatic games at home this season. Klewer also grabbed a defensive rebound off a deliberately missed foul shot to seal a two-point win over Cal Lutheran, and scored the game-winning basket at the buzzer against Westmont, after McAndrews had tied that game up with a three-pointer with just under 20 seconds left.

Clarke had five players in double figures in the losing effort, led by 17 from Cassedy, and the Sagehens almost matched them, as McAndrews, Klewer and Moss in doubles, while Weiss had nine points and senior forward Donald Okpalugo (Manchester, Eng.) had eight.

Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action in two weeks when it takes on Buena Vista on Sunday, Dec. 30 for a 7:30 p.m. contest.