La Verne Nipped By Tigers At Home
Trevor Woodland (left) and Matt Heyd battle Oxy's Sean Anderson for a rebound (Tracy Maple photo)
Occidental College scored on its final six possessions of the game and rode a 20-of-22 (90.9%) free throw shooting effort to hold off the University of La Verne 71-67 in SCIAC action Saturday evening at Frantz Athletic Court.
La Verne grabbed its final lead of the game at 62-61 on a jumper from John Leggett with 1:37 remaining. The Tigers struck back with a pair of free throws by Jack Hanley, a jumper from Deshun McCoy and a free throw by Peter Gierlach to take a 66-62 lead with 28 seconds left.
The Leopards twice edged within two points on consecutive possessions but Hanley went 4-4 from the free throw line in the final nine seconds to secure the win for the Tigers as they improved to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
Hanley, who finished 8-8 from the charity stripe, was one of four Oxy players who was perfect on their free throw attempts en route to a 20-22 performance.
La Verne (5-11, 1-4 SCIAC) overcame a 47-35 deficit with a 17-4 run highlighted by three 3-pt baskets from Trevor Woodland to propel the Leopards to a 52-51 lead with 6:26 remaining. The two teams battled to a standoff over the next five minutes before the Tigers' late push in the final stages.
The Leopards shot 51.6% (16-31) in the second half after a 33.3% (6-27) performance in the first 20 minutes. The Leos also outrebounded the Tigers 36-30.
Woodland finished with 23 points, connecting on five treys for the game. Leggett tallied 13 points while Austin Napolitano collected 9 points.
Oxy's Huston Conti recorded a game-high 21 points followed by Hanley with 19. Sean Anderson added 12 points with DeShun McCoy posting 11 points.
La Verne continues league action as it travels to Pasadena to take on the California Institute of Technology Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.
