MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OxyBob]

Huge game for Oxy (7-9, 3-5 SCIAC) tomorrow night at home against CLU. Oxy's road loss last Wednesday to La Verne -- a game in which the Tigers led by 14 with 8 minutes to go -- was costly because a win would have given Oxy a 2-0 season sweep and the tiebreaker against ULV, which beat Cal Lutheran on Jan. 2. Oxy already has losses to both CLU (14-4, 5-4) and Whittier (10-7, 4-4), so the Tigers can't afford to lose to the Kingsmen again and still hope to make the conference tournament.

Oxy's leading scorer Kris Montoya (16.7 ppg) went through a 4-game slump in which he only scored 15 total points, but in the last two games against Chapman and La Verne he scored 24 and 13. Nice surprise for Oxy has been the play of freshman Andrew Johnson, who is averaging 11.3 ppg and is leading the team with 7.2 rebounds per game.

With Claremont (12-4, 7-0) and Pomona (13-5, 8-1) comfortably ahead of everyone else, Cal Lutheran can solidify its third place status with a win over Oxy. The Tigers are going to have to do a much better job of guarding CLU's Arik Smith, the junior transfer from UW-River Falls. In the Jan. 4 game, Smith scored 20 with no sweat against a very porous Oxy defense. Moorpark College transfer Coltrane Powdrill has been a force for CLU, leading the team in both points (18.1 ppg) and rebounds (6.9 per game).

OxyBob

[Gray Fox]

BTW:
Those of you who think Chapman is part of the SCIAC should go to the women's board.
Chapman is listed separately. 

[OxyBob]

Chapman is listed separately.

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/laughs.wav

OxyBob

[Hoops_lover]

A similarly huge game for Chapman tonight vs. CMC.  Will Chapman have made the adjustments to counter CMC screening?  Will they be able to stand up against the physicality of CMC?  Will Hamasaki get into the paint and do some damage?  Will the Chapman bigs be able help stop the penetration of the CMC guards and will they BOX OUT and out rebound CMC?  If they do all four of these, Panthers win by 6-10 points; 3 of 4, the game is close; two or less, CMC wins.  I think Chapman wins by four in OT; Oxy upsets CLU in a very close game; Redlands knocks off Pomona Pitzer by six and La Verne edges Cal Tech by 5.  Stag44, OxyBob, Bigcat, elfinley, WoostAR, Evolution what's your opinion about tonight's games.

[stag44]

Great slate of games tonight!

CMS @ Chapman

This should be an awesome game. Hutton is always a very difficult place to play and the Panthers are looking for a big win to get themselves into 3rd place in conference. The Stags are still playing well, though they had a defensive hiccup @Redlands on Saturday giving up 76 points. Watching that game Redlands hit some really difficult shots and I was impressed with how well Peetz shot with players draped on him. I think the key in the game will be Chapman's defense - hoopslover, you nailed it with the rebounding and physicality. I think that this game will be a "bloodbath" where both teams will be very physical and aggressive. I personally think that there will have to be more contributions away from Hamasaki - ie Zaversnick, Dragovich, Joyce as most teams are honing in on Hamasaki and trying to take him away.  In general Chapman is a system team and they run their stuff really well, so often it comes down to reacting to their offense and then honing in on them as they go 4flat or off ball-screens at end of shot clocks. I think Chapman will watch the first game film and be disgusted with their defense. Letting a team shoot 78% on 2s is really unacceptable, but also credit to the Stags. They ran the motion as its drilled during the game and were getting layups, open shots and playing as a unit. I highly doubt they will shoot it as well tonight, but I also think they will shoot better than 12% from 3. It will be a game of 2 halves as well as both teams are good at making half time adjustments. I'm not sure how Chapman plans to contain Gaffaney but curious to see what they throw at him. I suspect the 2nd time around in conference teams are going to start throwing different looks at him including Box+1, Triangle+2 (on Gaffaney and Pinson), Zone, Face Guarding, etc. If teams do this though, including chapman, I think the Stags have enough talent around and Gaffaney is so good even without the ball that these gimmick schemes will be busted quickly. I think it's going to be a close game but CMS prevails with their tough D and opportunistic O

CMS 66 - Chapman 57

PP @ Redlands
This is going to be an exciting, fast, and high-scoring game. Both teams can fill it up, don't really like playing defense, and have players who are incredible scorers. Pomona has been on a roll, winning 8 straight games and averaging over 80ppg during that stretch. After 3 straight L across the winter break stretch, they have hit their stride and are looking very dangerous. The lethal guard trio of McAndrews, Moss and Cohen paired with Klewer, Weiss and Farone-Collins down low really make them tough. All guys on the court can shoot from 3, McAndrews is an unreal playmaker and can bail them out at the end of shot clocks along with Cohen and Moss while Klewer grabs every possible rebound and FaroneCollins has been producing at a healthy clip off the bench. They have an 8-man rotation with set roles which is huge for teams to be successful in my opinion.

Redlands showed on Saturday they can score against anyone and have the tools to beat anyone at home. Currier is a tough place to play and they are starting to integrate Calhoun into the mix to add some athleticism to the mix. I think they will beat some teams at home and could potentially creep into that 4th spot.

The game tonight is going to be about who can make stops when it matters. Both teams will score, but I think there will be one 8-12pt run by PP that will decide the game as Redlands will be unable to match the firepower.

PP wins 88-74

CLU @ OXY
Great matchup here of rivals both needing wins. CLU needs one to distance itself as a the 3rd place team, while Oxy needs one to stay alive. As OxyBob mentioned, CLU has been about its transfers Powdrill and Smith all year. They have taken the reins and really led this team. Powdrill is a bulldog who is as aggressive as anyone on offense and makes a living around the rim and at the free throw line. I think if anyone has the will, they can take alot of charges on him as he is out of control and puts his head down to drive. Smith is a big time guard who has been scoring well for them and provides some guard play that they havent had since Kyle Knudsen and Grimm. They are a team that can be really really dangerous but also have layed some eggs this year in how they perform.

Oxy has been struggling but still has a chance to make the playoffs with a strong 2nd half. They have been led by Johnson of late, but if Montoya gets back on track like he has the past 2 games they are a team that if they are clicking on offense can play with any team in conference. I think they will come up short tonight though as Smith and Powdrill with dominate the game.

CLU wins 70-62


ULV @ CIT
ULV wins in a game that is close for 30 minutes.

ULV wins 72-55

[elfinley]

The SCIAC is getting very interesting as CMS and PP seem to have a lock to the 2 top spots in the SCIAC post season tournament where 6 teams seem to be fighting for the last 2 spots.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 7-0 12-4
Pomona-Pitzer 8-1 13-5
Cal Lutheran 5-4 14-4
Chapman 5-4 11-7
Whittier 4-4 10-7
Occidental 3-5 7-9
Redlands 3-5 7-10
La Verne 3-6 6-11
Caltech 0-9 3-15

As far as the Panthers tonight? They really need to overcome their problems they consistently have: Rebounding, defensive penetration, and turnovers to have a legit shot at winning tonight. If they can conquer those demons, there is no reason why they should not be one of the top 4 teams when its all said and done.

Redlands could beat Pomona tonight.

CIT will always compete hard and never quit but ULV will win tonight.

Oxy and CLU could be game of the night. CLU goes as Powdrill goes, same with Montoya and OXY.

One thing is for sure, the 2nd half of SCIAC play: DOGFIGHT!!!

[Bigcat]

Great games in the SCIAC tonight. Here's my prediction for the Chapman-CMS game:
The outcome of this game will depend on which Chapman team shows up. If the team that played with effort and energy for 45 minutes in the OT win at Cal Lu shows up, Chapman has a good chance to score an upset. However, inconsistency has been one of the biggest issues for the Panthers all season.
For Chapman to win, I think they have to play good TEAM defense. If they decide to go man I think Zavrsnick is likely to start out on Gaffney. Zavrsnick is quick on his feet but is giving up about 30lbs and a couple of inches. Because of this, Chapman's helpside must be 100% on point if they want to have a chance. Blake Kubly is a tough defender off the bench, and is stronger than Zavrsnick, so I think coach should up his minutes some tonight. Davis Dragovich and Jordan Young are other options as well due to their size, but neither are great 1 on 1 defenders. I do think they will throw a couple different looks at him though, not just man to man.
CMS has a lot of size at guard, and is by far the best defensive team in the SCIAC.  I am sure they will try and focus on limiting Hamasaki and Zavrsnick, forcing some of Chapman's other players to make plays. Chapman needs to take advantage of their speed and try and push the tempo to get some easy buckets in transition, because points in the half court will be very hard to come by.
I think the X factor in this game for Chapman is Jordan Young. Young is the only player off the bench that is a serious scoring threat. He has had a few 20 point games in his career, and tonight would be a great night to have one of those. However, his minutes have been minimal as of late and his confidence seems to be down, but I think they could really use his size and ability to spread the floor tonight.
Ultimately, I think this game come downs to Chapman's D. If they buckle down this will be a very close game. Ultimately, I think CMS will pull out a close one.
CMS 61 Chapman 59

[Hoops_lover]

Great posts today!  Agree with stag44 and Bigcat, Chapman's defensive effort will be the key to upset CMC.  I have to agree with Bigcat that Zavrsnick might be guarding Gaffaney, but I think give Jordan Young a shot.  He's long and I think could give Gaffaney some problems and a bonus, he is better offensively (from the outside) than Kubly.  Whether it's Young or Kubly, if they're guarding Gaffaney, they'll have to commit 100% of their energy to guard him.  Regardless, the TEAM is going to have to step up huge defensively (no easy lay-ups).     

[stag44]

I am very curious to see how Chapman does play Gaffaney, but am really curious to see what other stags come and support him. Most nights its been Pinson, but if Grodahl, Harrington or the bigs contribute 12+ points, it's going to be very difficult for Chapman to win.

In the games this year, if all 3 (Gaffaney, Pinson, and Grodahl) have good games they are very tough, and it 2 have good games they, which has been the case most games this year, they are going to be in every game, and they get into trouble when only one is having a good game.

It's pretty clear that Gaffaney is going to get his regardless of who is guarding him, and if they come at him with doubles he's more than content to let the Stags play 4 v 3 all day. If they face guard him it's he'll be a nightmare on off ball screens. If the zone him he's shooting 50%+ from 3 in conference. The key is how the other guys play and who steps up.

Pinson had a monster game @Redlands, and Grodahl also stepped up. I think they are getting their legs and chemistry going and suspect they are going to play well tonight

[WoostAr]

I agree with Stag44's assessment for the first three games and potentially the 4th...if Caltech only manages to put 30 minutes of quality game time together, they will lose.

I think this game could get exciting though.  This is the second time through the SCIAC for Caltech, so they're going into games knowing what to expect, which should help a bit.  Earlier in the year at La Verne, Caltech lost by 10 and were within 4 with a minute to go.  I think this game might be closer than the 17 point gap Stag44 predicts.

[dahlby]

CMS held on for a 66-65 win over Chapman
Box score and recap at    www.chapmanathletics.com

In other action,
PP defeated Redlands 83-77
CLU dropped Oxy 83-70
ULV overr Caltach 59-51

[stag44]

Webcast Witness report

CMS 66 - Chapman 65

Wow that was an interesting game! Great ups and downs / ebbs and flows from both teams. The Stags prevailed in spite of an off night from Gaffaney, TERRIBLE ft shooting to end the game, and very good games from Hamasaki, Zaversnick and James.

CMS came out of the gate sharp and quickly went up 7-0 helped by 3s from Grodhal and Pinson. Chapman came back to tie the game at 7 and again the Stags went on a 6-0 run to be answered with 6 straight from Chapman to tie the game at 13 with around 13 minutes to go. Through the first 7 minutes, Grodahl, Pinson both looked ready to play while Gaffaney missed a couple of easy shots near the rim. Neither team really did anything new or different to this point.

Tied at 13, the Stags went on a quick 8-0 run with 4 points by freshman Riley Hall who was starting for Harrington. Hall played GREAT in his spot start role and has given Scali another new player unafraid of the big moments, similar to Harrington last year. He attacked, defended and played his role perfectly in the offense tonight and was a key part of the early success for the Stags. The Stags were scoring well in transition and in the half court causing Bokosky to take a quick timeout. Coming out of the timeout Chapman went to a 1-2-2 zone that CMS quickly torched with 3 straight 3s. Over a 5 minute stretch the Stags went on a 17-2 run to take a 30-15 lead. Chapman scored the last 2 buckets of the half and the score at halftime was 30-19 as neither team scored the last 5 minutes of the half.

The half went about as well as it could have for CMS given Gaffaney had just 5 points on 2-7 shooting. The contributions came from all over as Grodahl, Pinson, Lund and Hall also all scored at least 5 points. For Chapman, they were stymied by the Stag defense and were  unable to get out in transition. They shot 33% and were only 1-8 from 3 while turning it over 7 times.

The 2nd half was a different story as both teams got their offense clicking. The teams more or less traded baskets for the first 15 minutes of the half with some huge contributions coming from Lund as he was fed the ball by all the guards. With Chapman denying and overplaying the guards there was alot of space for Lund and Lane to operate on the block and often just catch and finish over the top of a front.

With 4 minutes left and CMS leading 63-54 after a Lane putback tip-in, Chapman turned on the afterburners as Zaversnick, James and Dragovich all scored to get Chapman to down 3, 63-60. It could have been closer but Hamasaki missed a breakaway layup after a careless turnover from Grodahl. After a suspect travel called on Gaffaney, Hamasaki hit a HUGE 3 infront of his bench after rocking his defender with a few dribbles. Hutton looked to be really loud and Chapman had all the momentum on its side. CMS elected to not take a time out and were running their motion, when Chapman was caught over helping/cheating towards Gaffaney who had the ball. He skipped to Grodahl who countered with an ice-cold 3 in front of the Stag bench. After a CMS timeout, Chapman countered off a play they had run all game to get Zaversnick a slip lay-in to cut the lead to 1. Great call by Bokosky as the Stags had been beaten on the play for open 3s at least 3 times through the game, but instead of going for the tie he got the screener on a layin.

Chapman set up their press to foul but inexplicably let Gaffaney break a trap without fouling him and he found Earley streaking to the rim but was intentionally fouled on a clear path to the basket. This gave the Stags 2fts and the ball with 20 seconds left. Unfortunately Earley missed both his freethrows and then Lane missed the front end of his 1and1 to give Chapman the ball with 16 seconds and a chance to win. It was set up perfectly with Hamasaki iso-ed at the top of the key vs Gaffaney - both locks for All-Conference - and Gaffaney won the battle this time stripping Hamaskai at with 4 seconds to go. CMS recovered the looseball and took a time out. They entered to Pinson who was fouled with 4 seconds to go and he proceeded to miss his front end as well giving the Panthers ANOTHER shot. They set up a full court play but the inbound pass was over the head of Hamasaki and Gaffaney recovered with 1 second to go. He also missed the front end, but Reider missed a desperation heave as time ran out and the Stags escaped.

This was a great game the that Stags controlled for about 36 minutes, but some timely errors and poor execution down the stretch made this a close game. Chapman has a knack for being in close games this year as 7 of their conference games have been within 5 points. Props to the Stags for winning it without having Gaffaney at his best and in spite of their poor ft shooting at the end of the game.

In other games:

P-P beat Redlands behind a strong performance from Cohen
ULV rallied in the 2nd half coming back from 8 down at halftime to beat Caltech
CLU controlled the game and won comfortably against Oxy

[Bigcat]

Saw the CMS-Chapman game as well. Few notes from what I saw:
1. Chapman's offense in the 1st half has horrific. I do not, for the life of me, understand why Chapman insists on bringing both of their bigs to the high post for so much of their half court offense. I know the idea is to get a bucket on a backdoor cut from a dribble hand-off, but against such a disciplined team like CMS, it wasn't going to happen. You could tell CMS knew it was coming, and did a great job helping and recovering to prevent an easy bucket.  Every time it was just 30 seconds of handing the ball off to each other around the perimeter until someone had to throw up a desperation shot at the buzzer. The bigs were just taking up space and making it easy on CMS to defend and very difficult for Chapman's guards to attack. Second half was much better offensively for Chapman. They pushed the ball more and did a much better job controlling the tempo.
2. This was my first time seeing Gaffney play. I like his game a lot; he's tough, smart, has a great first step, and can shoot it. However, I really think Hamasaki and Zavrsnick outplayed him tonight. I think he will win POY, but Hamasaki and Zavrsnick are right on his level.
3. I did not like the out of bounds play at the end. Granted, if CMS makes their free throws Chapman wouldn't have even got another chance. With no timeouts left Chapman drew up a play that looked to try and get Hamasaki, who started at half court, the ball past the free throw line while coming off an up screen. The problem was that the play took way to long to give Hamasaki time to get an open look for the pass. Hamasaki was still at half court until about three second had already passed on the 5 count. He wasn't open immediately, and didn't have time to try and cut back. There really wasn't any safe second option in the play, as everyone else was well past the free throw line. Dragovich was forced to throw a jump ball to the volleyball line like a quarterback throwing a hail mary into the middle of the field. I don't blame that on him, and from the look on his face after it happened I don't think he blamed himself either. It wasn't necessarily a bad play, as Hamasaki would have gotten a great look if he was open. That's just an awfully risky play to call without any timeouts left and still a decent amount of time left on the clock. 3.5 seconds is still enough time for one of these guys to get a decent look without catching it past half court.
4. I don't think the talent difference is very much between these two teams. Hamasaki and Zavrsnick will keep Chapman in any SCIAC game by themselves. The biggest difference is CMS's role players are better than Chapman's. Chapman just got outplayed and outcoached tonight.  CMS game in with a game plan, executed on offense, and got a tough W.

[OxyBob]

Eyewitness report from Eagle Rock:

Cal Lutheran 83, Oxy 70

Grey Fox and I took in the game at Oxy.

The Tigers are going to have to do a much better job of guarding CLU's Arik Smith, the junior transfer from UW-River Falls. In the Jan. 4 game, Smith scored 20 with no sweat against a very porous Oxy defense. Moorpark College transfer Coltrane Powdrill has been a force for CLU, leading the team in both points (18.1 ppg) and rebounds (6.9 per game).

Oxy did not do a much better job of guarding Smith. He scored 26 on 10-for-14 shooting, 6-for-7 FTs, had 5 offensive rebounds, and 3 blocks. Smith was waywayway too quick for Oxy's guards, going baseline to baseline for easy layups. As for Powdrill, he scored 22, had 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals, and pretty much did whatever he wanted. Jeremy Sulker-Hall scored 11, and Corey Quintana had 10 for CLU.

The Tigers played shorthanded without injured Spencer Levy (14.6 ppg), but freshman Joe Compagno filled in nicely with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Andrew Johnson had a great game with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Kory Hamane scored 15.

The game was close through the first half, but CLU is just too big, too strong, and too deep for Oxy, and in the second half the Kingsmen steadily pulled away to a double-digit lead and kept it there.

Oxy is 7-10, 3-6 SCIAC. The Tigers' hopes for a spot in the conference tournament are dim. Oxy hosts Caltech (3-16, 0-10) this Saturday, and UC Santa Cruz (3-16) on Sunday.

SCIAC Game of the Week: Pomona (14-5, 9-1) @ Cal Lutheran (15-4, 6-4) on Saturday.

OxyBob

[WoostAr]

Rough night for Caltech last night.  They started off rolling...offense working the best I've seen off of a high post cross screen...this is becoming their bread and butter...Caltech held a 38-30 lead at half (they missed some great opportunities that would have had them ahead further).  Everything was clicking.

Then it become readily apparent that Caltech is just as nervous of winning as their opponents are of losing to them.  The second half began with Caltech's first two shots sitting on the rim, each with 2-3 tips but the shots just wouldn't go.  The team never let up on the defensive end, and got great looks on the offensive end, but the shots just wouldn't go.  Caltech scored 13 points in the second half with at least 4 rim outs and numerous other open looks that just didn't go. 

I would say Caltech finally played a solid 40 minutes of basketball...despite their second half offensive deficiencies they played solid defense all night...while La Verne shot 52% from the field, Caltech wreaked havoc with La Verne's sets generating 18 turnovers and limiting La Verne to 59 points, 5 below their average on the season. 

This sets up a battle of the SCIAC basement teams at Oxy this weekend...should be a tight game...if Caltech can limit Montoya (no easy task), they will have a good shot at winning.