The University of Redlands men's basketball team used a huge second half in Friday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) semifinals to blow past the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, 88-68. With the win, the Bulldogs advance to the SCIAC Postseason Tournament Championship game and face No. 2-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, which edged Whittier College in tonight's other semifinal, 62-60.
From the opening whistle, Redlands came out with an aggressive style of play. Junior guard Eric Radford (Federal Way, WA) scored the opening basket of the game for the Maroon and Gray, sinking a jumper on the Bulldogs' first possession of the game.
The two teams traded baskets over the next several minutes, and with the score tied at 8-8, junior forward Alex Rudd (St. Louis, MO) drained his first three-pointer of the night for Redlands' early advantage.
A few Sagehen buckets put the visitors back on top by one, but senior guardTristan Kirk drained back-to-back long-range efforts, propelling the Bulldogs to a two-point lead at 19-17. Not long after, Rudd sank another three-point shot to push the Bulldog advantage to six points.
Showing resiliency, Pomona-Pitzer once again fought back and retook the lead at 28-27 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half.
Bulldog senior forward Josiah Brensdal (Kent, WA) responded with a jumper and then junior guard Ricky Peetz (Redlands, CA) drained a shot from downtown to put Redlands back on top in this back-and-forth contest.
At the half, Redlands held a slight edge at 40-37. The Sagehens outshot the Bulldogs during the first 20 minutes, registering a 53.8% shooting mark, while the Maroon and Gray shot only 39.5% from the field during the first stanza. However, Redlands made up the difference in the three-point category, connecting on five long-range efforts, as compared to just two for the Sagehens.
The U of R came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, as Brensdal scored the first five points of the second half for a 45-37 advantage with 17:49 left on the clock.
A Pomona-Pitzer and-one play cut into the Bulldogs' lead. But Redlands quickly pulled away, as senior guard Brian Kuklok (Poway, CA) drained a jumper, Peetz hit his second three-pointer of the night, and Kuklok sank another three for the Bulldogs, sending the Currier faithful into a frenzy and forcing the Sagehens to talk it over.
The hot shooting did not stop there for Redlands, as the squad came out of the timeout with a Kuklok jumper, pushing the advantage to 12 points. Then, following a Sagehen basket, Rudd sank a pair of shots from beyond the arc, while junior guard Matt Calhoun (Clackamas, OR) added a three-point jumper of his own.
With 5:48 remaining, the Bulldogs sat in front by a score of 73-55 and continued to let the threes rain down. Brensdal nailed a shot from deep and then Kirk drained his third long-range shot on the next possession, making it a 24-point lead for the Maroon and Gray. Kirk finished the night with nine points, all of which came from downtown.
The Sagehens managed to cut it to 20 points late in the game, but it was too little too late, resulting in the huge postseason win for the Bulldogs.
Redlands outscored Pomona-Pitzer by 17 points in the second half, paced by a 7-of-11 performance from downtown. Not only were the Bulldogs impressive from long range, but during the second half, the Maroon and Gray shot an incredible 70.8% from the field, culminating in the lopsided score.
Brensdal led the way for the Bulldogs with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting in addition to grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. Rudd finished with 18 points off the bench, including a solid 4-of-7 mark from distance. Additionally, Kuklok registered 13 points, 11 of which came in the second stanza, while Peetz provided 10 points. Calhoun dished out five assists to along with six points and five rebounds.
Pomona-Pitzer (14-11) gained double-digit scoring from three of its starting five, with John Weiss stepping up with 12 points, Xavyr Moss adding 11, and Kyle McAndrews chipping in 10. As a team, the Sagehens shot just 39.4% for the night and 24.1% from beyond the arc.
Redlands (21-5) returns to the floor on Saturday evening when it hosts CMS in the SCIAC Postseason Championship game at 7:30 p.m. The winner of that contest will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships.