MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WoostAr]

Wisconsin Stevens-Point beat CMS -- hard fought game by both teams -- impressed by the defense out of UWSP: they kept Gaffney in check most of the game -- if they had made free throws, they would have won easy, they missed a bunch and ended up gutting out a six point win. 

CMS' offense looked crisp early on but they seemed to lose structure as the game went on -- I would credit the Pointer's defense -- in a crucial stretch towards the end of the second half they forced 3 turnovers in the span of 2 minutes.

[OxyBob]

Eyewitness report from Eagle Rock:

Oxy 50 St. Joseph's 48

Oxy trailed by 19 in the second half but came roaring back to win. The Tigers hadn't played since December 2 and it showed. Oxy endured a horrible first half, shooting only 12.5% on 3-for-24. Fortunately for Oxy, St. Joseph's didn't take full advantage of Oxy's ineptness, and the Monks led only 22-11 at the break. In the second half, St. Joseph's led 34-15 at 13:20 when Oxy started its comeback. Oxy's press bothered the Monks and forced them into 14 second half turnovers (20 for the game). Austin Hawk's 3-ball cut the lead to 8 at 10:50, and Kory Hamane's 3-pointer cut SJC's lead to 47-43 at 2:35. With 44 seconds left, Taylor Walton made the first of two FTs to make it 48-46. He missed the second FT but got the rebound and put it in to tie the game. After a timeout, SJC's Jordan Tripp tried a jumper, but it was blocked by Oxy's Juwan Rice, who got the ball and threw it to a streaking Andrew Johnson for a layup and Oxy's first and only lead of the game with 4.4 seconds left. Johnson then stole the inbounds pass and dribbled out the clock. Nice comeback for the Tigers!

For Oxy, Johnson, Rice and Hawk each had 10 points, and Taylor Walton pulled down 11 rebounds. For St. Joseph's, Quinn Richardson-Newton scored 12, and Zach Blodgett had 10.

Oxy (4-3) hosts Pomona (2-7) on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the SCIAC opener. The other SCIAC games this Saturday:

La Verne (4-5) @ Cal Lutheran (6-2)
Redlands (3-6) @ Claremont (7-2)

OxyBob

[WoostAr]

Caltech dropped their game at Whittier last night 79-65.  After jumping out to a 14-4 lead, they got creamed the rest of the first half -- down by 20 at the break.  The problem: turnovers -- 12 in the first half, 20 in the game.

Caltech went down by 30 to kick off the second half and then scrambled back late to keep it respectable.

On top of the turnovers, it looked like Caltech had problems with effort -- great coaching job to get the players in the game that put out effort and jump start the team late.

On the bright side -- freshman David Kawashima got some playing time tonight -- feisty kid...I look forward to him progress...will be a tremendous asset to this team down the road.

[stag44]

CMS @ Caltech tonight. Should be a good game - CIT is always prepared to play CMS and the Stags slower tempo usually keeps things interesting. 2 years ago Caltech was up 4 with a minute to go before losing in OT.

This years scheduling is a bit different than the usual Wednesday / Saturday. I'm guessing some has to do with the 9 team league and CMS sharing courts with Pomona.

[stag44]

Webcast Witness Report:

CMS 58 Cal Tech 33

The Stags showed off their vaunted defense against Caltech holding them to below 25% shooting in both halves. They had done their homework and guard Emezie really well, forcing him into 3 early turnovers dribbling baseline and going out of bounds. The Stags had some trouble early getting their offense going, but went on a 9-1 run in the middle of the first half to go up 20-9. They were up 29-14 at half and cruised to a win being up by 20+ pretty much the last 10 minutes of the game.

Gaffaney had another great game, and an especially efficient first half. In the 2nd half it looked like he was staying aggressive and driving into contact but the calls weren't there. I was happy to see him sit for the last few minutes of the game. The play of Shelby Lane has been really special over the past few weeks. He has been averaging 13ppg and 7rpg shooting almost 70% from the field and anchoring the nations best scoring defense (52.2ppg).

This is a classic Scali team that grinds you on offense and plays tough nosed man defense. They kicker is they have an All-American (in my opinion) in Gaffaney with a maturing post which allows them to be dynamic on offense when needed. While the lost to Stevens Point, it was great to see them competitive for a majority of that game. UWSP, while down from prior years, still has some players who are very skilled and towards the end of the game Ritchay just took over and was on fire.

The SCIAC is shaping up to be a 3 team race at the top with CMS, Chapman and Cal Lu. All teams are very talented but extremely different styles of play. The first of these 6 matchups between the teams is Saturday when CMS travels to Chapman. I expect to see an awesome game where Chapman's high octane, efficient offense will square off against the nation's best defense.

[Gromek]

Great to have you back, stag  44.  Enjoy your insight into sciac basketball.    Should be a very good basketball tomorrow.

[WoostAr]

While CMS is certainly a good team -- they do not function without Gaffney in the game -- evidence of this being that he played 35 minutes last night after being pulled with 10 to go...as soon as Caltech made a mini-run he came back in.  Their half court offense was rather weak last night -- Gaffney's points in the first half were off late clock pick and rolls -- Scali was obviously frustrated by his team not hitting cutters when they were open. 

The second half Gaffney went 2-10 with a couple airballs.  I'm wondering if his legs are going to stay with him all year as he limped off the court to the locker room at the end of the game.

Credit to CMS' defense -- very long and athletic...definitely understand why they are one of the better defenses in the nation...Caltech could not get anything going against them.

Also, credit to Caltech's defense...Gaffney did have 21 pts but he needed 19 shots!! to get that.  Discredit to Caltech's offense -- they didn't run their offense through Al-Reyes enough -- he has to be the focal point of their offense...no one in the SCIAC can stop him one on one (scored at ease against Lane when he got the ball on the block - 2/3 from the post + 7 free throw opportunities -- he also missed two 3 balls which he should not have shot) -- Caltech has to get the ball to him and force defenses to collapse.

For my money, Chapman is the team to beat this year -- they have a stingy defense, great guard play, and can shoot the bejesus out of the ball.  You can say all of those things about Claremont, but Chapman is deeper....we will get an early look at this matchup this weekend -- very exciting

[WoostAr]

Caltech played Cal Lu last night -- Caltech ended up losing by 77-56.

This could have been one of the closest 21 pt losses I've ever watched -- Caltech simply could not can a 3 to save their life.  They had wide open looks that would lead to run outs.  Their aggression was a pleasant surprise -- KC Emezie had a baseline drive dunk and Nasser Al Reyes had a buzzer beater put back Jam to bring Caltech within 11 at the half.  With 8 to go, Caltech was down 10 -- they had two wide open 3's from Rob Anderson (their shooting specialist) not go in, Cal Lu then hit a 3 at the other end and that pretty much sealed it.

Caltech started 0-12 from 3 -- their half court defense was solid again, but their transistion defense needs some work -- of course hitting threes instead of giving up long rebounds would held, as would further limiting their turnovers.  Caltech had 15 turnovers last night with no point guard on the floor after the first 5 minutes -- Bryan Joel seemed to suffer a calf cramp early on and Lango was not to be seen -- also missing from last game.

Next up for Caltech -- undefeated Chapman, now the number 20 team in the nation.

[dahlby]

Read in the LA Times this morning that former Chapman AD and MBB Coach has passed away of natural causes in Palm Desert CA.

[OxyBob]

Read in the LA Times this morning that former Chapman AD and MBB Coach has passed away of natural causes in Palm Desert CA.

You mean Bob Boyd, the great USC coach?

Don't give up your day job to become a reporter.

OxyBob

[dahlby]

You bit on that one hook, line and sinker, Bob.
Don't become a detective!

Bob Boyd contributed greatly to all of college basketball.

[WoostAr]

Chapman dropped Caltech 67-58 tonight -- repeat: Caltech lost to the #20 team in the nation by less than 10 points.

Caltech's offense has started to click and they have started to reduce their turnovers -- should be a good one against Oxy on Tuesday -- I'm calling for a Caltech win.

[WoostAr]

Got that wrong -- Caltech lost 76-68 to Oxy -- Caltech was cavalier with the ball which turned into 17 turnovers -- also allowed Levy to shoot 15! three pointers -- he hit 7 and scored 26 on the night, Rice chipped in 14 and Johnson 12.

Nassar Al-Reyes is clearly going to be the focal point for Caltech over the next 2.5 seasons -- he went 12 and 7 with 2 blocks and an assist last night with a put back dunk in the half court -- only played 26 minutes.  Actually a bit of an off night for him -- missed a couple chippies and he still shot 60% from the field -- he is still dialing in his defense, but even that is coming along.  He is only a sophomore and is motivated to develop -- definitely a player to keep an eye on going forward.

Caltech hasn't had Lango for the last 4 games (not sure why, but he hasn't even been in the building) and Joel seems to be nursing a calf issue (only 13 minutes last night) -- so Caltech is lacking a point guard at the moment, seems Hogue is filling that role as a point forward in the interim (had to play 39 minutes last night and had numerous shots fall short -- legs probably not as fresh as they could be).

Caltech at La Verne on Saturday.

[dahlby]

What a day/night in SCIAC men's BB with:
CIT taking ULV to 2 o/t's before losing 59-57 and
Whittier needing O/T to drop Oxy 91-86 and
PP battling CMS for a 58-57 win.
In other SCIAC action Chapman dropped Redlands by 20, 83-63.

Looks like a real battle for the post season tourney.

[Hoya86]

The league has a talented senior class and all of them want to win badly.

With their senior leaders Cohen and McAndrew healed the Sagehens are back from the dead and the league is much more interesting.  I predict P-P will go 6-2 in second half and sneak past Whittier into the tournament.  The end of regulation and the two overtimes last night v. Chapman were really fun to watch.

Speaking of entertainment, I loved the two big slams by Whittier's Demussis last night against CMS.  Very athletic.  Whittier's big man Maynard showed great range and his three's enabled the Poets to threaten late.  Not often that you see a center with zero 2FG opportunities but 4-7 from 3FG.

In the second half, Cal Lu and Chapman (Tues.) need to play at CMS.  Will their temporary home across 6th Street carry the enough home court benefit?