LOS ANGELES — Ryan Chong (San Diego) hit six three pointers for a career-high 18 points,Conrad Liebowitz (Santa Monica) had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds and the Occidental College men's basketball team cruised past Washington & Jefferson for a 74-63 win in its last game at the Las Vegas Hoopla Tournament on Friday.
Chong hit five of his threes in the first half and finished the game 6 for 12 from beyond the arc. His offensive surge in the first half helped the Tigers (3-6) jump out to a 46-32 lead by halftime.
"Ryan had a great night," Occidental College men's basketball coach Brian Newhall said. "We like him shooting any time he has his feet set. His offense in the first half got us out to a big lead and really everyone stepped up.
"That's the best team basketball we've played all year."
The Tigers went 14 for 36 as a team from downtown, with an unlikely suspect burying the biggest one of the evening. With the Presidents (3-9) down by 11 and threatening to cut Oxy's lead to single-digits, 6-foot-6 freshman center David Yetenikyan (Glendale) nailed his first career three, on his first career attempt, putting the Tigers up 72-58 with 3:20 left in the game.
"There was barely any time left and I just let it go," said Yetenikyan, who finished with six points and seven rebounds.
It was a big basket with just 6 seconds left on the shot clock that put an end to any hope Washington & Jefferson had of getting back into the game.
Earlier in the half, he earned three the old-fashioned way, nearly dunking a backdoor pass fromChad Tanioka (Culver City) for an and-one that gave Oxy a 57-43 edge midway through the second.
Oxy's Kris Montoya (Portland, Ore.) scored 15 points, his sixth game this season with at least that many.
The Tigers got great production at point guard. Sam Stapleton (Los Angeles) had another solid night handling the ball and finding shooters, with seven assists to just two turnovers, and Tanioka had three assists and no turnovers in 14 minutes off of the bench.
Zach Bellhy had a game-high 21 points to lead the Presidents. Mike Resnik scored 12 and Ben Cecchini added 11.
The Tigers have a nine-day holiday break from competition before their next game against Colorado College at Chapman on Dec. 30.
"We finish the first half of the season on a high note and get to go back and spend some quality time with our families," Newhall said. "When we come back from the break, we've got three more big non-conference games before we get to get back to our SCIAC schedule."