LOS ANGELES — Jay Miller and the Occidental men's basketball team battled and crawled their way back from a five-point deficit in the second half and took a 3-point lead with 4 seconds left on a deep 3-pointer by Miller. 

But Michael Scarlett drilled a 25-foot 3-pointer at the other end to send the game into overtime and the Tigers lost their third overtime game of the SCIAC season, 69-66 at Rush Gymnasium on Saturday.

Season Impact: Oxy falls to 10-10 overall and 4-7 in SCIAC play.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps improves to 9-10 and 4-7 SCIAC.

Miller hit shot after shot, scoring 10 points down the stretch, including a 3-pointer to put Oxy up 64-61 with 4 seconds left. With both teams out of timeouts, CMS came screaming down the other end and Scarlett found himself open for a deep, deep three above the right wing.

Both teams struggled to score in overtime, but Scarlett hit another three that proved to be the difference.

It seems like the Tigers just can't catch a break in overtime. Oxy let a 2-point lead slip against Pomona-Pitzer with 2 seconds on an inbounds play and fell to La Verne in overtime despite having a pair of free throws to ice the game in regulation.

Miller finished with 28 points on 11 of 22 shooting. He was 3 of 10 from the 3-point line.

Andrew Johnson scored 14 points, Spencer Levy chipped in nine and Kory Hamane had six points and three assists. Austin Dewitz had five points and eight rebounds.

Scarlett led CMS with 19 points, including 5 of 7 shooting from three. Jason Harrington had 15 and Nick Lund chipped in 12.

Next Game: The Tigers are back in action at home on Wednesday, playing an important game against Redlands at Rush Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. The Tigers beat the Bulldogs in the first meeting between the schools, 70-66 on Jan. 2.