LA VERNE — With 5:56 remaining in the game, down by 11 at La Verne, senior Sam Stapleton(Los Angeles) knew he and his team had to dig deep and chip away at the lead, possession by possession.
The guard made three layups, then the rest of the Tigers followed suit. Big men Conrad Liebowitz(Santa Monica) and David Yetenikyan (Glendale) put two layups inside to cut the lead to four, but the Occidental men's basketball team allowed a three by Jake Vieth and let a critical offensive rebound fall into the hands of the Leopards with 1:20 left. Oxy had no choice but to foul, losing 82-74 Wednesday night.
"Winning means more than anything but the group of guys we have on this team competed and fought hard until the end," Stapleton said. "La Verne just made more plays than we did in the end." Occidental head coach Brian Newhall felt tonight's game stood out over countless games in recent memory. "I have rarely been more proud of a team over the past 25 years," he said. "We were a true team in every sense of the word for a full forty minutes."
Without Kris Montoya (Portland, Ore.), who sat out due to a sore knee, the Tigers (6-11, 1-7 SCIAC) looked to other players to pick up the slack, as five players finished in double figures. Stapleton finished with 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting in addition to four assists, Ryan Chong (San Diego) had 13 points, Liebowitz had 14 points and nine rebounds, Eric Leider (Las Vegas) had 13 points, and reserve Ty Cobb (Menlo Park) had 10 points.
What worked well for Oxy in the first half was guard penetration into the key. Once the La Verne (5-12, 4-5 SCIAC) helper had to step up and attend to the ball, the weak-side post was open for the layup. Freshman Samuel Ravetz (New York) started the trend with two lob passes inside, and Oxy was able to get into the flow of its offense and get the frontcourt involved at the same time.
Offensive rebounding, however, kept Oxy close. The team pulled down nine of their 18 first half rebounds on the offensive end, leading by two at the break (42-40).
Yet turnovers and unnecessary fouls mid-way through the second half prevented the team from sustaining momentum.
Ronn See led all scorers with 23 points and 12 boards for La Verne, and Vieth had 22 points. Vince Bauer and Alex Wolpe both added 10 apiece.
The team will return to Rush Gymnasium Saturday to face off against Chapman.
"Round two of SCIAC starts on Saturday night," Newhall said. "Our guys will be ready to compete."
Mirin Fader is the Oxy men's basketball beat writer. She also writes feature stories on Oxy athletes, coaches and alums. Mirin's work has appeared in Clippers.com, Dime magazine and WNBA.com (LA Sparks). All of her work, including her archived Oxy stories can be found at her website: mirinfader.com