Claremont, Calif. - Senior guard Michael Cohen broke a 57-57 tie with a three-pointer with 1:06 remaining as the Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team was able to escape a tough challenge from Caltech with a 62-57 win on Saturday evening at Voelkel Gymnasium.
With the win, the Sagehens improve to 8-13 overall and 7-6 in the SCIAC, getting back over .500 in conference play after an 0-5 start. Caltech, which came in with two wins in its last three games, falls to 3-19 overall and 2-11 in the conference with the narrow feet.
Cohen's shot came off a kickout pass from junior forward Gibson Farone-Collins, who pulled down a contested offensive rebound after a miss from senior guard Kyle McAndrews and found Cohen alone on the left wing.
After Cohen made his, the Beavers had two three-point attempts to tie in the final minute, but could not connect, and Cohen was able to track down a key defensive rebound. McAndrews was then able to knock down both ends of a one-and-one to push the lead to 62-57 with 17 seconds left, and Caltech missed two more threes in the final seconds to leave the final score as a five-point spread.
Cohen took over for a brief stretch in the second half, burying a three-pointer, and then coming up with a steal and fast break layup to push Pomona-Pitzer's lead up to nine (47-38) with 12:34 left after they led by only one at the half. That would be the largest lead of the game, though, as Caltech scored the next six points to close within 47-44 with 7:47 to play.
The lead got as close as one point on three occasions, before Andrew Hogue knotted it up with a three-pointer with 2:44 to go. Caltech got a stop and had the chance to take the lead, but Kc Emezie (who had 21 points on 6-10 shooting) missed a tough runner, and sophomore Ammar Kurdmisto got the defensive rebound, setting up the go-ahead three.
Cohen had 16 of his 21 points in the second half, and finished the day shooting 7-11 (4-8 on threes) and adding six assists. McAndrews chipped in with 19 points on 8-13 shooting, while Farone-Collins had 13. Bryan Joel had 12 points and Hogue added 11 for the Beavers.
Pomona-Pitzer will next be in action on Tuesday night when it plays an unusual road game in its own gym at Voelkel Gymnasium against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. CMS is using Voelkel Gymnasium as its home court for the next two years while its new facility is built.