The University of Redlands men's basketball team headed to Chapman University on Wednesday night for its second Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) contest of 2018. Despite out-scoring the home team in the second half, the Bulldogs struggled to overcome a 10-point deficit at halftime and headed home with a 73-82 loss.

Although Chapman scored first, senior guard Kyle Husslein (Tamuning, Guam) hauled in the subsequent offensive rebound and dished it out to senior forward Blake O'Brien (Sammamish, WA), who tossed in the early equalizer. Both teams battled, matching each other point-for-point until sophomore guard Hass Berry (Riverside, CA) hit a shot from downtown off of a nice pass from sophomore forward Jesse Wims (London, England) for the Maroon and Gray's 10-7 advantage.

Unfortunately for the visiting team, Chapman's three-pointers kept falling, which resulted in a sizable, 10-point lead at the half.

At the start of the second, the Panthers' offense kept rolling, as they stretched their lead to 18 with 15 minutes left to go in the contest. Redlands started to turn things around at the 10:29-mark, when sophomore forward David Menary (Grass Valley, CA) put up a block and snagged the subsequent rebound. On the following drive, Menary hauled in one of his three offensive rebounds and laid it up for the made basket and the foul. He swished his shot from the charity stripe for the successful three-point play to make it 38-53 with 10 minutes left.

This lit a spark in the Redlands offense, especially junior guard Trevor Baker (Phoenix, AZ), who made a three-pointer, swiped a steal, and converted a pair of free-throws in only 20 seconds of work to close the gap to 10 points. O'Brien and Menary did their part by driving to the basket and adding points. Senior guard Kyle Hamane (Pasadena, CA) drained a huge bucket from downtown at 7:05 to pull the Bulldogs within seven at 52-59.

Under pressure with only seven minutes to go, Baker turned it on high gear by scoring 14 of the Bulldogs' next 21 points to stay within 10. Unfortunately, the late-game push was not enough to top the Panthers, who sent the Maroon and Gray home with a tough 73-82 loss.

Menary impressed with a double-double off of 16 points and 10 rebounds. He also was near-perfect from the line by going 10-for-11. Baker led the team in points with 24.

The Bulldogs (3-8, 1-2) look to return to the win column on Saturday, January 6, as they host SCIAC competitor Caltech as part of a doubleheader with the women.  The men tip off at 2 p.m. in Currier Gym, followed by the women at 4 p.m.