Chapman Wins SCIAC Men's Basketball Tournament - Mar 10, 2014
The Chapman University
men's basketball team defeated visiting Cal Lutheran University 79-51 at
the Hutton Sports Center on Saturday night to win the SCIAC Postseason
Tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Division III playoffs
for the third time in five years. Chapman (18-9) was led by senior F Nick Dragovich
(6'3''-F), who recorded his sixth double-double of the season.
Dragovich recorded a season-high 13 rebounds and equaled his season-high
in points with 16 going 8 of 10 (80 .0 percent) from the field. Defense
led the way in the first half for the Panthers, holding the Kingsmen to
just 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) shooting and 0-for-5 from three-point
range. The Kingsmen kept it close in the first nine minutes, trailing
the Panthers 13-9, until the Panthers began to pull away. Chapman
outscored the Kingsmen 16-8 the rest of the period to take a 29-17 lead
at the half. Chapman the No. 3 seed in the tournament maintained a comfortable lead throughout the second half as junior C John Joyce
(6'8''-C) scored 12 of his team-high 17 points, in addition to his five
rebounds. Cal Lutheran (19-8) was able to cut the Panther lead to 10
when senior G Michael Palmer
(6'3''-G-92) sunk a long-range three-pointer. Chapman, however would
not let the lead come within single digits stretching the lead to 30 at
one point, thanks to 65.5 percent field goal shooting (19 of 29) in the
period. Panthers' junior G Colin Zavrsnick
(6'2''-G) poured in 10 of his 16 points in the second half, including a
three-pointer. Chapman owned the glass, out-rebounding the Kingsmen
39-21 in the contest. The fourth-seeded Kingsmen were led by G Arik Smith who scored 19 points. With
the victory Chapman advances to the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time
in school history, and the third time since the Panthers joined Division
III in 1994.
Courtesy of SCIAC
SCIAC Tournament Final: Chapman - Cal Lutheran 79-51 SCIAC Tournament Semifinals: Chapman - Pomona-Pitzer 69-54 Cal Lutheran - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 54-53
Bokosky
