THOUSAND OAKS — As Dan Wade's fifth three rattled in to tie the score at 72 with 3.2 seconds left, it looked like the Occidental men's basketball team's upset bid at Cal Lutheran might be spoiled by the second of two of three-pointers in the last 17 seconds.

But Juwan Rice had other plans.

The lone Occidental senior got the inbounds pass from Spencer Levy, took it coast-to-coast, and banked in a three of his own as time expired, giving Oxy a dramatic 75-72 win over the Kingsmen at the Gilbert Sports Arena on Saturday.

The Tigers stormed the court and dogpiled on top of Rice, realizing they earned the team's biggest victory of the season.

"It's definitely the biggest shot I've ever made in my basketball career," Rice said. "It felt amazing that my teammates embraced me as the buzzer sounded and we all enjoyed that moment together."

Oxy wins its second conference road game in a row, improving to 7-6 overall and 3-2 in SCIAC. The Tigers have now beaten two of last year's four SCIAC playoff teams.

Cal Lutheran, which came into the afternoon undefeated in conference play, falls to 10-3 and 4-1.

The Tigers defeated last year's No. 2 seed Pomona-Pitzer in their SCIAC opener. The Kingsmen were the No. 4 seed in the 2013-14 SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

From the Coach: "It seemed like everything was working against us in that last minute or so and then the ball ended up in the hands of the only guy we didn't want shooting it," Oxy head coach Brian Newhall said. "Our guys played outstanding basketball for nearly 40 minutes and deserved to win. We just needed our guy to make a play and a little luck to finish it off."

Rice, who seems to always make his mark whenever the Tigers earn a close victory, finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Levy led Oxy with 19 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, Andrew Johnson added 18 points and seven rebounds, and Andrew Garrison posted a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Rice nearly had a quadruple-double in a 90-81 win at Caltech to open the season (27 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 8 steals), he made the steal and assist to beat St. Joseph's (Me.) 50-48 and played clutch defense on La Verne's best player for the final two possessions in the Tigers' 65-63 win on Thursday.

Against the Kingsmen, Rice not only performed on the offensive end, but kept SCIAC Player of the Year candidate Arik Smith to just 15 points on 3 of 10 shooting from the field and 1 of 6 from the three-point line. Smith came into the game averaging 18 points per game on 50 percent shooting.

On the Court and In the Classroom: Rice is one of Oxy's best students. He has a 3.8 grade point average in a challenging kinesiology program and he's already earned the Army's Health Profession Scholarship that he'll apply to dental school when he graduates this spring. 

The Tigers erased a 36-29 halftime deficit with a 10-2 run at the beginning of the second half that put them up one, capped by a pair of free throws by Garrison. It looked like it was Oxy's game late in the second when Rice hit a three, Johnson made a layup and Levy knocked down a pair of free throws, giving the Tigers a 69-62 lead with 1:27 to play.

But a pair of turnovers, a loose ball foul that stopped the clock and led to two free throws, and made threes by Coltrane Powdrill with 17 seconds, and then Wade forced the Tigers into a last-second win.

Powdrill led Cal Lutheran with 23 points and Wade had 20.

Coming Home: Simi Valley native Austin Hawk scored seven points, had three rebounds and dished out two assists while running the show for the Tigers at point guard in front of friends and family. Levy, also a Simi native, was 3 for 7 from beyond the arc and 6 of 6 from the foul line.

Next Game: Oxy returns to action against Caltech at Rush Gymnasium on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.