Montoya Scores 11 in Overtime, Oxy Beats UC Santa Cruz

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LOS ANGELES — Kris Montoya dominated overtime, Andrew Johnson had a quiet 20 points and the Occidental College men's basketball team had five players in double figures as it outlasted UC Santa Cruz in a Super Bowl Sunday thriller, 86-82 at Rush Gymnasium.

Montoya scored 11 of Oxy's 12 points in overtime. He finished with 20 total on 7 of 14 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal.

"Kris played one of the most complete games I've seen him play tonight," Oxy head coach Brian Newhall said. "He rebounded, he had some assists and he also had some other plays where his pass led to the pass. He put us on his back tonight and that's what your best players do."

Montoya led off the OT period with back-to-back drives to the basket. Jared Ponce cut Oxy's lead back to 78-77 with a 3-pointer, but Montoya answered with a three of his own.

The 6-foot-6 senior forward helped hold off the Banana Slugs each time they made a push, giving Oxy two-possession leads with scores on three different occasions.

The only point he didn't score was a made free throw by Ty Cobb, who ruined the Banana Slugs last chance at tying the game with a 3-pointer by intercepting the sideline inbounds play with 3.5 seconds left.

Johnson had a game-high eight rebounds to go along with his efficient scoring inside on 7 of 8 from the field and 6 of 8 from the line. The freshman forward helped the Tigers jump out to a 39-27 halftime lead by finishing short shots around the basket for a total of 13 first-half points.

Joe Compagno chipped in 17 points for the Tigers. Kory Hamane and Chad Tanioka each scored 11 points and made three 3-pointers.

Ponce led UC Santa Cruz with 24 points, James Townsend had 18 in 19 minutes due to foul trouble and Spencer Wells added 15.

Oxy returns to action on Wednesday at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 7:30 p.m.