CLAREMONT, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team (8-3, 0-2 SCIAC) is still searching for their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) win as they squandered a nine-point second half lead in a 99-93 overtime loss on the road at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Wednesday evening.
Reining SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Week Kendrick Currey (Manteca, CA) got off to a fast start as he scored the first points of the game on a dunk. He then made a three off a Lucas Gordon (San Marcos, CA) assist for an early 5-4 lead.
The game would then be tied on four different occasions after that before the Bulldogs took a four-point lead, 22-18, thanks to a three by Jhace Boston (Bakersfield, CA), a layup from Ivan Belkin (Encino, CA), and a free throw by Cameron Joseph (Fairfield, CA).
With 6:44 left in the half the Bulldogs had the first double figure lead of the game, 35-25, following a Currey assisted, Cameron Brown (Bakersfield, CA) three. This margin would be as large as 11, twice, as UR took a 49-40 lead into the half after Brown found Gordon for a fastbreak layup to end the opening 20 minutes.
The Bulldogs' multi-possession lead was intact for the first five minutes before the Stags converted an offensive rebound into second chance points to get within three, 57-54. CMS would finish the comeback as they tied the game at 59-59, the first tie since it was 16-16 all early in the first half.
Despite only 10 points in more than eight minutes of play to start the second 20 minutes, Belkin made a three with 11:22 on the clock as he regained the lead for the Bulldogs, 62-59. That lead would grow to seven, 68-61, with less than nine minutes to play.
The Stags countered with a 13-5 run that gave them their first lead in more than 30 minutes. Currey would get to the line with 1:45 remaining in the game and would convert both to put the Bulldogs back on top, 78-77. After CMS took the lead again, Robert Power (Pacific Palisades, CA) went 1-of-2 from the stripe, which tied the game. Then with only eight seconds to play and trailing by one, Currey drew a foul. He missed the first, which eliminated a chance to win the game, but he made the second, which would force overtime with the game tied at 80-80.
In extra time it was all Stags as they took an 82-80 lead :17 seconds into the five-minute period and never looked back, leading by multiple possessions for the last 3:27.
Currey led all scorers with 28 points (8-23 FG, 2-10 3FG, 10-14 FT), while contributing four rebounds and four assists. The other three Bulldogs in double figures included Gordon (14: 5-7 FG, 4-6 3FG), Brown (13: 4-5 FG, 2-2 3FG, 3-4 FT), and Power (11: 4-6 FG, 2-4 3FG, 1-2 FT).
As a team the Bulldogs made only 37.5 percent of their shots in the second half after converting on 54.29 percent of them in the first. On the other side CMS made 45.45 percent of their attempts in both halves and shot 52.6 percent (10-19) from three.
The Bulldogs will play their sixth-straight game away from Currier Gym this Saturday, January 6 at Whittier College as they tip-off at 2:00 p.m.
