Los Angeles - Andrew Johnson had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead five players in double figures as the Occidental Men's Basketball team broke open a close game in the closing minutes with a 10-0 run and took a 74-65 win over Pomona-Pitzer in the SCIAC opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, the Sagehens slip to 2-8 on the year and 0-1 in the SCIAC, while Occidental improves to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in league play. Pomona-Pitzer was led by senior guard Kyle McAndrews with 22 points and junior forward Gibson Farone-Collins with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
A Farone-Collins lay-up cut Occidental's lead to 58-57 with 7:42 to play, but the Tigers went on a 10-0 run to take control. Johnson scored the first five points of the run on a three-point play and a lay-up, and Kory Hamane capped it off with a three-pointer with just over four minutes left to make the score 68-57.
Farone-Collins stopped the run with a basket, and two McAndrews free throws cut the lead to 69-63 in the final minute. The Sagehens then had two three-point attempts to try to cut the deficit to three points, but both missed, and Juwan Rice hit two foul shots with 30 seconds left to effectively put the game away.
The Sagehens only briefly led in the game, as they fell behind 5-0 early and could only pull even twice in the first half (24-24 and 38-38) before trailing 43-41 at the break. After falling behind by six points early in the second half, the Sagehens went ahead 51-50 on an Isaac Levy-Rubinett foul shot with 12:26 left and again at 53-51 on a Farone-Collins lay-up with 11:43 to go. Spencer Levy responded with a three-point play for Occidental and the Tigers never trailed again.
McAndrews was 8-15 from the floor for his 22 points in a losing cause, while Farone-Collins was 7-14 for his 19 points. Johnson finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for Occidental Rice and Levy each had 12 points for Occidental. Andrew Garrison added a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Hamane added 10 points on three three-pointers and a foul shot.
Pomona-Pitzer is back in action on Tuesday when it hosts La Verne for a 7:30 p.m. contest.