MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[oldchap]

In 24 games this season Caltech only won 4 halves of basketball, and 2 of them were against Redlands. If I were you, I'd be offended by the state of Bulldogs b-ball.

OxyBob

Are we talking about the same team that just beat Oxy tonight??

[OxyBob]

Eyewitness report from Thousand Oaks:

Whittier 68, Cal Lutheran 66

WC: Keegan Hoover 15 pts and 12 rebs, Marcus Gibson 13, Travis Crow 11
CLU: Kyle Knudsen 21, Aaron Fisher 16 pts and 7 rebs, Greg Grimm 12, Aaron Van Klaveren 9 pts and 14 rebs
Halftime: WC 35-24
Rebounds: WC 37-31

Great game between Whittier and Cal Lutheran. In the first half, it was tied 14-all at 9:10, but then CLU got caught up trying to play Whittier's up-tempo transition game and the Poets took advantage. Marcus Gibson hit back-to-back 3-balls as part of a 17-6 run, the Poets led 31-20, and Whittier took an 11-point lead at halftime. Ken Albritton's layup out of the break gave Whittier a 37-24 lead, but CLU started chipping away. Greg Grimm's jumper gave CLU the lead 44-43 at 12:20, and another Grimm jumper gave the Kingsmen a 55-49 lead with just under 7 minutes to go. The Poets came back with 7 straight and led 56-55 at 5:30, but CLU answered with 6 points of their own and led 61-56 with 2:35 left. After a couple of FTs by Jeff McClean, Travis Crow made a layup and a 3-pointer and Whittier was back in front 63-61 with 55 seconds to go. After a timeout, Kyle Knudsen canned a 3-pointer and CLU was up by 1, 64-63, with 48 seconds left. Marcus Gibson came right back and hit a short jumper to give WC the lead by 1 with 26 seconds left. Out of another timeout Knudsen scored in close with 12.6 seconds left to put CLU back in front. Whittier brought the ball upcourt and called TO with 3.9 seconds to go. On the inbounds pass, Grimm almost stole the ball but couldn't stay in bounds, and WC had it with 3.1 seconds. The ball was inbounded to Gibson, who launched a 25-footer from the wing and -- SWISH! -- in it went with 0.8 to go. Grimm's desperation heave was no good, and Whittier won it, 68-66.

With the win, Whittier gets the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and will host either CLU or Pomona.

With its win over Caltech combined with the CLU loss, Claremont is the outright SCIAC champ. Congratulations to the Stags.

OxyBob

[sciac_is_fun]

CLU-Whittier was an unbelievable game.  I don't know if I've ever been to a game with so many emotional turns in the final minute. 

Disclaimer: I know OxyBob posted while I was writing, but this was a game so good it's worth reading about twice. 

Whittier pulled ahead in the first half and once again CLU found themselves down significantly at the half, this time by 11.  But just like the CMS game, they came out in the second half and would not be denied.  It seemed like most of the building knew the game was far from over, especially after the CMS game.  After the Poets made the first hoops of the half to up 37-24, CLU fought back and finally took the lead at 44-43 with a Greg Grimm jumper at a bit over 12 minutes to go.  CLU had the lead for most of the rest of the game, until the final minute.

That's when Travis Crow hit a huge 3 with :55 left to put Whittier up by 2.  After a timeout by CLU, Knudsen comes down with ice in his veins and just nails a 3 to but the Kingsmen back up by 2.  Marcus Gibson comes back and hits to put the Poets back up by 1, before Knudsen comes back and posts up on the right block, spins back to his left and laying it in with his left hand.  With :14 left, Whittier inbounds the ball without calling a timeout, but as a play begins to develop they finally do call one with 3 seconds left.  After CLU calls a timeout after seeing how the Poets are lining up, Whittier inbounds under their own basket.  CLU deflects the first inbounds pass, leaving 2.8 seconds.  Marcus Gibson catches the inbounds on the left wing, maybe 6 feet behind the 3 point line and jacks from there.  Nothing but net.

Most of the Whittier players start celebrating - meanwhile there is still .8 on the clock, and if the Kingsmen were alert they may have had a good last shot with very little defense - most of the Whittier team was in a pile along the bench where Gibson hit the shot.  But a couple of Whittier players realize the game's not over, and get over half court before CLU can throw a long inbounds.  Instead CLU ends up with a 60-foot heave that actually got quite close before falling just short of the rim. 

Obviously a heartbreaking loss for the Kingsmen, and now they'll have to go on the road for the first game of the tournament. 

Knudsen almost willed CLU to victory in the 2nd half, scoring  19 of his 21 and shooting 7-10 in that frame.  Aaron Fisher, who along with Knudsen played all 40 minutes, had another strong game and some hugh buckets with 16 pts, 7 rebs, and 4 stls.  Van Klaveren fought through some foul trouble to contribute 9 pts and 14 rebs.  Unfortunately he probably had about 5 would-be 3 point play opportunities roll off the rim, and shot just 5-12 from the line. 

For the Poets, Keegan Hoover had 15 and 12, Gibson had 13 pts/4 asts, and Archuletta had what looked at times to be a very frustrating 6 pts and 8 rebs.

Before the final minute, the play of the game was Knudsen's almost-dunk (it went in, just wasn't a clean dunk) over Hoover to put CLU up by 6 with just under 10 minutes to go.  Didn't know he had that in him.

[OxyBob]

Van Klaveren fought through some foul trouble to contribute 9 pts and 14 rebs.  Unfortunately he probably had about 5 would-be 3 point play opportunities roll off the rim, and shot just 5-12 from the line.

Whittier 7-for-10 FTs, CLU only 14-for-24.

I spoke with CLU's Andy Meier, who's obviously disappointed and frustrated that he's injured and can't play. He said that he has a torn MCL, the same injury that befell the Lakers' Andrew Bynum. Meier said he wouldn't need surgery and that he'd be out of commission for 3 months.

If Pomona wins and CLU loses then both teams will be 10-4. They split their 2 games, will each be 0-2 against Whittier, 1-1 against CMS, and 2-0 against Oxy, ULV, Redlands and Caltech. Not sure what the next tiebreaker is.

EDIT: According to both the Whittier web site and the Cal Lutheran web site, Pomona and CLU will flip a coin Wednesday morning to determine the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds in the SCIAC tournament.

The coin flip is an acceptable way to break a tie, although then there's the quandry of deciding who gets to call heads or tails. Personally, I think all disputes can and should be resolved by a dice roll, or even this:

Nevada Election Winner Determined by Card Draw

More than two months after the Nov. 4 election, the winner of a local race has been determined Nevada-style: by a draw of the cards.

Kim Toulouse drew an ace of clubs to beat Chris Sewell's 10 of spades on Thursday night for a seat on the Verdi Television District board.

State law allows candidates to settle ties by either drawing cards or flipping a coin.

Toulouse and Sewell tied in the November election with 1,839 votes each.

Toulouse lost an initial card draw (he picked a three to Sewell's seven) before Washoe County election officials discovered 47 people had not been allowed to vote.

They were mailed absentee ballots, but only eight returned them, giving each man two more votes to continue the tie.

Toulouse expressed relief after the second draw ended the impasse.

"I was very surprised we tied the first time," he told Reno's KTVN-TV. "And then to tie a second time, what are the odds? We now can just move on with everything."

In the last decade, Nevada's tie-breaking method also was used to settle a White Pine County commission race in 2004 and an Esmeralda County commission race in 2002.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

SCIAC Tournament Semifinals, Friday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.:

Pomona (13-12, 10-4) @ Whittier (16-9, 10-4)
Cal Lutheran (18-7, 10-4) @ Claremont (19-6, 11-3)

OxyBob

[Gray Fox]

So, CLU won't be appearing on one of those TV poker shows. 8)

[David Collinge]

SCIAC Tournament Semifinals, Friday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.:

Pomona (13-12, 10-4) @ Whittier (16-9, 10-4)
Cal Lutheran (18-7, 10-4) @ Claremont (19-6, 11-3)

OxyBob

The NCAA is shocked--shocked!--at this profligate waste of travel monies when a more expedient solution was readily available.

[D O.C.]

The coin flip is an acceptable way to break a tie,

I wouldn't bet on it.   8)

[greyskies]

Hello,
I have a son playing for CMS and I was wondering if admission to tournament games is free and whether games sale out or not.  In other words how early show I arrive?
thanks in advance

[Gromek]

Last year, at this time.  Was Oxy  ranked with the top 25 teams in Div. lll  ?

No charge at CMS games.  Be early if playing Pomona.

[Gray Fox]

Hello,
I have a son playing for CMS and I was wondering if admission to tournament games is free and whether games sale out or not.  In other words how early show I arrive?
thanks in advance

If they get to the NCAA playoffs, there is a small charge.  Good luck to all. 

[Pat Coleman]

Last year, at this time.  Was Oxy  ranked with the top 25 teams in Div. lll  ?

No charge at CMS games.  Be early if playing Pomona.

Yes.

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/08/week13.htm

They were also 21-4 at the time.

[Ralph Turner]

SCIAC Tournament Semifinals, Friday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.:

Pomona (13-12, 10-4) @ Whittier (16-9, 10-4)
Cal Lutheran (18-7, 10-4) @ Claremont (19-6, 11-3)

OxyBob

The NCAA is shocked--shocked!--at this profligate waste of travel monies when a more expedient solution was readily available.

The bean counters must hoping to make it up in the finals.

[greyskies]

I've uploaded pictures form a preseason CMS-UC Santa Cruz game for those who may be interested, see attached link.  I'm going to upload the last CMS - Pomona game tonight as well..  Pictures are not great, usually I do better but I was stuck in the bleachers with my 4 year old daughter stuck underfoot.  I hope to capture better pictures of the CMS team play at the SCAIC tournament.

http://flickr.com/photos/greyskies/sets/72157614388277093/

greyskies

[Gregory Sager]

I've uploaded pictures form a preseason CMS-UC Santa Cruz game

Non-conference, not preseason.

Great pictures, though!