Box Score

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Daniel Zitani's (Sr., Oakland, Calif.) outstanding scoring buoyed Pacific in the first half while Coby Proctor (Jr., Sublimity, Ore.) paced a critical second half comeback as Pacific rallied for a 72-66 victory over Pomona-Pitzer in men's basketball action Friday at Voelkel Gymnasium.
 
Zitani finished with a game-high 28 points and 11 rebounds, hitting on 11 of 19 from the field and 6 of 8 from the free throw line.  He led a very steady shooting performance that saw the Boxers make 48.1 percent of their shots from the field (26-54) and 19 of 27 from the charity stripe.
 
The victory improved Pacific to 4-2 on the season and extended the team's current win streak to three games.  The Boxers are now 3-1 this season against teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
Proctor added all of his 12 points in the second half, including the Boxers' only three-pointer of the night, and paced a late 12-0 rally that saw the Boxers come back from as much as 13 down for the victory.  Mitch Wettig (Jr., Bend, Ore.), Riley Grandinetti (Jr., Murray, Utah) and Cameron Hayes (Sr., Milton, Wash.) each contributed eight points.
 
Michael Cohen led Pomona-Pitzer (5-4) off the bench with 21 points and did most of his damage at the free throw line with a 12 of 14 effort.  Kyle McAndrews scored 14 points, Jake Klewer added 11 to go along with 11 rebounds and John Weiss contributed 10 points.  The Sagehens shot 40.7 percent from the field for the game (22-54), but shot just 35 percent in the second half.
 
The teams competed hard in a first half that saw six ties and neither squad build more than a four-point lead.  The Boxers built their first four-point lead with 12:11 left when Zitani's jumper made it a 13-9 game. 
 
The Sagehens came back to tie it at 17-17 with nine minutes left, but Pacific built the advantage back to four points three more times before the end of the half.  Pomona-Pitzer held the two-point lead late before Zitani's short-range bucket with 31 seconds left moved the teams into a 33-33 deadlock at the half.
 
Pomona-Pitzer had renewed fire early in the second half, pulling away from an early 35-35 tie with a 19-6 run over the first 10 minutes of the stanza.  The run culminated on Joe Eyen's three-pointer with 9:56 to go, which gave the Sagehens their biggest lead of the game at 54-41.
 
Pacific reduced their deficit to seven points, 56-49, on Proctor's three-pointer with 7:10 to go before going on a 12-0 run that proved to be the difference in the game.  Proctor pulled the Boxers into a 58-58 tie with his lay-up with 3:05 left while Zitani's jumper with 2:10 left lifted the Boxers to a five-point advantage.  The Sagehens came back to within three with 15 seconds left, but free throws by Grandinetti and Zitani sealed the victory.
 
Pacific continues their three-game Southern California road trip on Sunday, facing Pacifica College at 7 p.m. on campus of Citrus College in San Dimas, Calif.