MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OxyBob]

Wednesday night's scores:

Cal Lutheran 71, Pacifica 59: Martin Flowers 24 pts and 10 rebs.
Whittier 68, La Verne 66: Phillip Thomas' layup with 34 secs left gave WC a 67-66 lead, and the Poets hung on to win.
Pomona 60, Chapman 54: Pomona led pretty much start to finish.
Claremont 71, Oxy 59: CMS led only 58-55 at 3:40, but Oxy faded in the stretch again at home.
Redlands 106, Caltech 74: UR led 61-31 at halftime, and played the bench in the second half.

OxyBob

[CMSfan]

Claremont 71, Oxy 59: CMS led only 58-55 at 3:40, but Oxy faded in the stretch again at home.

Here's the box: http://oxyathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121128_yi2c.xml

From what I saw, it was a close game throughout. Oxy is talented and looks like they could be a top-tier team in SCIAC. CMS was aided by great shooting in the second half (59% from the floor, compared to 31% for Oxy) and an off-night for Montoya, who was 3-11 shooting (though 9-10 from the line).  CMS had a few lapses on defense (they look very young at times) and some periods of sloppy play, but on the whole this seemed like a typical CMS game, with tough defense and a nice scoring distribution (four guys in double figures). Shelby Lane looked great again and between him, Lund, Mkpado, and Rama, the Stags have a lot of young bigs, which has helped cushion the loss of Maceira and Blees.

Great start to SCIAC play for the Stags!

[WoostAr]

Anyone seen Pomona play live yet? their early returns look promising -- what happened to Klukas?

[cmsme]

WOW. CMS team looked great. Congratulations.

[CMSfan]

WOW. CMS team looked great. Congratulations.

Yep, another solid performance.  Here's the box score: http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121201_n66l.xml

Sullivan lit up up with 24 points including 6-10 from three-point range. Whittier is, as always, athletic and plays at a fast pace, but CMS handled their press well (better than they handled Oxy's on Wednesday) and maintained a lead throughout the game.

In other SCIAC action:

Redlands 81, PP 72
Box: http://pomona.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121201_mnvb.xml

Cal Lu 71, Caltech 51
Box: http://gocaltech.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/files/CIT-CLU.HTM

Chapman 69, Oxy 59
Box: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121201_tq5a.xml

[OxyBob]

In other SCIAC action:
Chapman 69, Oxy 59

Not a big mystery why Oxy didn't win. The Tigers shot 36% on 19-for-53, 3-for-17 on 3s, 18-for-30 FTs, and only had a total of 4 assists. In 50 minutes of play, Oxy's starting guards were 2-for-10 for 6 points, one of which was a basket on a 3-ball with 30 seconds to go and the game out of reach.

Oxy is home to Redlands on Wednesday.

OxyBob

[CMSfan]

Stags 73, La Verne 67

Box: http://www.leopardathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121205_zl7c.xml

Didn't make it to the game, but the Stags led by 19 at the half and apparently were up by as my as 26 at one point. Looks like a lot of fouls and free throws in the game. Pinson had 22 and Mivshek 21 for the Stags.  Veith led the way for the Leopards with 23.

In other CMS news, enjoy Ducey Gym while it lasts: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/news/pressreleases/article.asp?article_id=2105

In other SCIAC news:

Chapman 76, Whittier 64
Box: http://www.wcpoets.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121205_xv8f.xml

Pomona 60, Cal Lu 58
Box: http://pomona.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121205_bk1t.xml

Redlands 96, Oxy 94
Box: http://oxyathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121206oiwyiv

[OxyBob]

Oxy is home to Redlands on Wednesday.

Eyewitness report from Eagle Rock:

Redlands 96, Oxy 94

Very entertaining game. Little bit of role reversal from seasons past. Oxy is playing an up-tempo, aggressive, high reward-high risk, press-all-over-the-floor style which forces lots of turnovers but also results in easy layups if their opponent gets past the press. Redlands is playing more of a Claremont-style controlled half court offense with lots of cutting and faking and screens.

Redlands led 42-38 at halftime. The Bulldogs led 89-82 with 4 minutes to go, but Eric Leider's 3-ball closed the gap to 94-92 with 2 minutes left. After Brian Kuklok made a FT, Conrad Liebowitz's layup made it 95-94 with 4 seconds left. Kuklok was fouled, made a FT and missed the second. Oxy got the ball and got it into the front court, but Sam Stapleton's long try missed, and UR got the win.

For Oxy, Eric Leider led all scorers with 27 points, 22 of those in the second half, including 6-for-7 on 3s. Liebowitz had 15 and 9 rebounds, and freshman David Yetenikyan scored 12 and had 9 rebounds off the bench.

For UR, they had 6 players score double figures. Josiah Brensdal scored 13 and had 14 rebounds, Tristan Kirk had 14 and 10 assists, Kuklok scored 14, Matt Calhoun 13, Ricky Peetz 15, and Alex Rudd had 16.

Redlands won the rebound battle 41-36. UR had 24 turnovers, Oxy 23. Both teams had abysmal FT shooting; Redlands was 17-for-33 (52%), and Oxy was 15-for-27 (56%).

Redlands is 3-0 in conference play, while the Tigers drop to a disappointing 0-3.

Oxy is off until the 15th, when they host D3hoops No. 20 Whitworth.

In other CMS news, enjoy Ducey Gym while it lasts

The Temple of Doom is doomed. Can't say I am unhappy about that. Will Ken Scalmanini have his own private thermostat in the new building so he can crank up the heat to 90 for games?

OxyBob

[OxyFan21]

OxyBob,

Been years since I've posted on here...Any word on why McCoy didn't start?

[OxyBob]

Any word on why McCoy didn't start?

It's probably just how Brian Newhall has his rotation set up. McCoy played 23 minutes against Redlands and he played well -- 9 pts and 9 rebs -- though I like it better when McCoy takes his Elvin Hayes turnaround jumper rather than shooting 3s, which I think are outside his range.

Redlands hosts UC Santa Cruz tonight. After beating Claremont, the Banana Slugs have lost 3 straight to Pomona, Whitman, and Whitworth.

OxyBob

[(509)Rat]

While I think UCSC is probably improved from years past, Redlands shouldn't have any problems with them. Still waiting for Whitworth to head down south. Looks like some traditional NWC powers are down this year. UPS and LC have really struggled up till this point. The conference as a whole is probably down this year. I think you'll see more parity but it will be because the stronger programs aren't quite as good as they have been in the past.

Looks like we won't know much about the top of the SCIAC until Jan when CMS finally gets Chapman and Redlands...

[dahlby]

I don't know how much of a good measuring stick Chapman will be this year, as they are very, very young. They have played good in spurts so far this early season. Hopefully they will gel by January and be a factor. Until then, we will just have to wait and see how they fare.

Good luck to the Prates this year. I will see them on the 18th of December when they are down here vs Chapman.

[OxyBob]

While I think UCSC is probably improved from years past, Redlands shouldn't have any problems with them.

Redlands 62, UC Santa Cruz 51

Lee Fullmer Tournament. UCSC led 38-29 at halftime, but Redlands outscored the the Banana Slugs 33-13 in the second half; UCSC shot 15.4% on only 4-for-26. Josiah Brensdal 17, Brian Kuklok 16.

Redlands is 5-2 and faces 0-9 Pacifica tonight.

Saturday's SCIAC schedule, all games 7:00 p.m.:

Caltech (0-7, 0-2 SCIAC) @ Claremont (4-4, 3-0)
Pomona (5-2, 2-1) @ La Verne (1-3, 0-2)
West Coast Baptist (record unknown because WCB doesn't post results) @ Whittier (3-4)

EDIT -- Final scores from Saturday:

Redlands 119, Pacifica 88
Claremont 84, Caltech 70
Pomona 58, La Verne 49
Whittier 84, West Coast Baptist 69

OxyBob

[stag44]

CMS 67 @ CLU 42

Good win for the Stags on the road going to 5-0 in SCIAC on the year.

Balanced effort with 8 players scoring between 5 and 11 points, led by Pinson, Cain and Sullivan with 11 each.

Stags won the ever important rebounding battle 33-21

I was worried this could be a trap game: long trip to CLU, Stags at 4-0, Finals Week and a whole rash of other possibilities, but they came out focused from the start and took care of business.

CMS is off game duty until post-Christmas when they play out east in Salem State for their Classic.
CLU gets UPS and UC Santa Cruz this weekend, with both games looking to be very competitive.

Current SCIAC standings

CMS  5-0
UR    3-0
PP    3-1
CU    2-1
WC   1-2
CLU   1-2
Oxy   0-3
ULV   0-3
CIT    0-3

Notes/Surprises from the pre-break conference

1. Oxy is different and surprisingly 0-3
Granted their 3 losses are to all current top-4 teams, but with a team as talented as Oxy it is surprising to see them at 0-3. I expect them to get better with their dribble-drive and uptempo game over break and make a move into the top half of conference.

2. ULV is better than their 0-3 record.
Again playing against CMS and PP is tough as is playing @ Whittier to open conference. Reed has his guys playing REALLY hard and together which is great to see. Veith is a tough guard and they can play 10-12 guys with confidence.

3. The usual suspects are back.
In what was thought to be a rebound/rebuild year for CMS after losing Blees, Maciera, Anderson and Gaffeney (4 all conference players), Scali is doing one of his finest coaching jobs this year getting the guys to 5-0 to start. This is with a grain of salt as they still have PP, Chapman and Redlands (the top tier of the SCIAC thus far). The Stags tend to really develop and come together over break, so it should be exciting for them.

PP, who was the pre-season SCIAC favorite bringing their core back was dealt a blow losing Klukas, but they are still right there at 3-1. Cohen hasn't played the last 2 games but I'm not sure what's going on - he was dealing with an ankle issue earlier in the year. They continue to play guard-heavy 3pt ball but have some solid bigs in Donald, Klewer and Weiss to play down low.

Redlands is impressive and very high scoring. They are 91ppg through the season and 94ppg in conference.

4. Caltech will get someone this year
They are VERY gritty and tough and I think will win a SCIAC game at home this year.

[OxyBob]

CMS 67 @ CLU 42

Eyewitness report from Thousand Oaks:

This one was not close. Claremont dominated from start to finish. Classic CMS defense. Cal Lutheran could not get the ball into the block, they could not drive the baseline, they could not get decent shots from the wing, and they could not drive from the top of the key. The Kingsmen mostly passed the ball around the arc, finally flung something up at the basket, missed, and the rebound was gathered in by one of the five CMS players standing under the basket, with no CLU players in sight. A basketball thing of beauty to watch.

In the front court Claremont was also impressive. No Chris Blees or Miles Taylor on the floor for CMS, just a well-oiled team machine. The Stags ran their high post offense to a tee, with lots of screens, cutting, and crisp passes to open men for high-percentage outside shots or easy layups.

For CLU, Steven Davis was the only guy who played with any enthusiasm. The rest of the Kingsmen played tepid and placid basketball, and seemed resigned to a loss after they got behind. CLU shot only 31.4%, and was 2-for-21 on 3s.

Always a pleasure to chat with Dan Kuntz and Ben McEnroe.

I was looking forward to seeing Whitworth @ Oxy this Saturday, but another commitment takes me elsewhere.

OxyBob