LOS ANGELES — Juwan Rice led Oxy with 18 points and eight rebounds, and Kory Hamane added 16 off of the bench.

But the Tigers didn't make enough plays late, losing a close game to La Verne, 75-73 at Rush Gymnasium on Thursday.

The Tigers fall to 9-9 overall and 5-5 in SCIAC play. La Verne improves to 8-11 and 4-6.

Hamane kept the Tigers close in the first half as the Leopards went 9 of 16 from the 3-point line. Kendall McClain, who finished with a team-high 17 points, shot 4 of 5 from deep, including three triples in the first 20 minutes that gave ULV a 46-41 halftime lead.

In the second half, Oxy weathered each La Verne run and countered with runs of its own.

Trailing 73-72 with 10 seconds left, Oxy pressed La Verne on the inbounds pass into a pair of near turnovers as the Tigers tried to go for a last-second steal. Karl Reyes finally went to the line for the Leopards with 7 seconds left after being fouled.

Reyes made the first of a 1-and-1 and missed the second. Rice rebounded the ball, took off toward the other end and launched what would have been the game-winning 3-pointer, but the star Oxy senior couldn't channel his magic from earlier in the season, missing it off the front rim.

Rice hit a buzzer beater from around the same spot on the court to beat Cal Lutheran 75-72 earlier in the season.

Jay Miller, who scored 13 points, and Spencer Levy both got near the rebound, but couldn't tip it in with contact.

Andrew Johnson scored 12 points and had four rebounds for Oxy. Fellow big man Andrew Garrisonscored six and had five rebounds, including a pair of key tip-ins in the second half. 

La Verne's Hakim Arnold scored 15 points, 13 of them coming in the second half. Arnold played just 5 minutes in the first half with a pair of fouls. Josiah Sukumaran grabbed 14 rebounds for ULV.

From the Coach: "It was one of those game where you just don't quite make enough plays to win," Oxy head coach Brian Newhall said. "We didn't play very well on defense in the first half, they shot the ball well and that set us back a little. In the second half, we had opportunities, but couldn't quite get over the hump."

Next Game: The Tigers travel to Chapman on Saturday to face the Panthers at 4 p.m. Chapman is currently tied for first at 8-2 in SCIAC. The Panthers won the first meeting at Oxy, but Oxy stunned the Panthers in Orange last year in overtime.