 No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Clinches SCIAC Tournament Crown With a 76-71 Win Over No. 2 Chapman (Photo: SCIAC)
No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Clinches SCIAC Tournament Crown With a 76-71 Win Over No. 2 Chapman - Mar 1, 2022 
Top-seeded Pomona-Pitzer notched a 76-71 victory over second-seeded Chapman in Sunday afternoon's SCIAC Men's Basketball Postseason Tournament final at Roberts Pavilion on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) in Claremont, Calif. With the win, Pomona-Pitzer improves to 21-4 overall and garner's the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship, while Chapman moves to 22-4 overall and awaits a possible at-large bid to the national tournament. The selection show is scheduled for Monday, February 28 at 9:30 a.m. PDT on NCAA.com. The Sagehens have now won three consecutive tournament titles (2019, 2020, 2022) and their fourth overall having also won the inaugural SCIAC postseason tournament in 2008. The Panthers finish as runners-up for the second time in four trips to the tournament final having also finished second in 2015. In the early stages of the first half, Pomona-Pitzer opened up an 8-3 lead highlighted by a pair of buckets from Joe Cookson (6'6''-G). Chapman's Jack Roggin (6'0''-PG) responded for the Panthers as he converted an and-one opportunity to even the game at 8-8. The Sagehens then used a 9-2 run to stake a 17-10 lead fueled by a three-pointer from Matthew Eberle (6'5''-F). The Panthers answered back as Alex Rogat (6'8''-F) hit a jumper in the paint before Chandler White (6'6''-F) swished a trey to make it 17-15 with 12 minutes to play in the stanza. Minutes later, a triple by Hayden Moore (6'4''-G) shrunk the Chapman deficit to 21-20, but Brendan Mora (6'5''-G) answered with a three-pointer of his own to extend the Sagehens' lead back to four. With just over eight minutes to play in the first half, Pete Boyle put Pomona-Pitzer ahead 31-25 with a three-pointer, and a Cookson layup pushed the lead to 33-25. Eberle then drained a three-pointer to increase the advantage to 36-25 before Roggin halted the run with a basket in the paint. With under four minutes to play, another White trey narrowed Pomona-Pitzer's lead to eight, the Panthers could get no closer in the half as Eberle and Mora each drained a three-pointer to extend the lead to 48-35 at the break. In the opening minute of the second half, Chapman forced the Sagehens into a pair of turnovers as Anthony Giomi (6'4''-F) and Rogat each notched a steal, while Moore was able to capitalize on one of the turnovers with a layup. Pomona-Pitzer fired right back as Mora canned a triple, Johnny King (6'9''-C) made a layup, and Boyle hit a mid-range jumper to push the lead to 55-37 at the 17:29 mark. After Pomona-Pitzer ballooned its advantage to 20 points, Moore netted a pair of three-pointers to make it 59-43 with 14:40 to play. The Panthers continued to chip away at the lead as White struck twice more from long distance, while Roggin made two foul shots to cut the lead to 59-51. A pair of free throws and a layup by Giomi shrunk the lead to four (59-55) as Pomona-Pitzer was held scoreless from the 16:03 mark to the 9:46 mark when Boyle stopped the run with a jumper from the wing. A Roggin three at the 7:05 mark pulled Chapman to within three (65-62), and before Eberle and Rogat exchanged baskets to keep the difference at three in favor of the Sagehens. With just over four minutes remaining in the contest, White made a pair of free throws as the Panthers clawed back to within two at 68-66. With 2:05 to play, Ty Bergman gave Pomona-Pitzer a 70-66 lead before Moore cashed in from beyond the arc to set the score at 70-69 with 1:42 to play. Two free throws by White gave Chapman a 71-70 edge before Cookson answered with a bucket in the paint to make it 72-71. Following a turnover on the Sagehens' ensuing possession, Eberle registered a block on the fast-break attempt and Mora scooped up the rebound and converted two foul shots to make it 74-71 with 10 seconds to play. Following a missed free-throw by Roggin, White collected an offensive rebound and Anthony Smith (6'3''-F) missed a three-point attempt. Boyle then hit a pair of foul shots to set the final score at 76-71. Eberle scored a game-high 23 points, while Mora followed with 17, and Boyle 15. Cookson added 10 points, while Mora led the team with 10 boards. Peyton Mullarkey (5'10''-PG) chipped in eight assists off the bench, while Boyle added seven rebounds. The Sagehens shot 48.4% from the field, 26.9% from three-point range, and 87.5% from the charity stripe. White led the Panthers with 22 points off the bench, while Roggin and Moore scored 17 points each. Rogat and Roggin contributed seven rebounds each to lead Chapman, while Smith and Roggin dished out five assists each. The Panthers shot 40.7% from the field, 36.7% from three-point distance, and 92.3% from the foul line. SCIAC Tournament Final: Pomona-Pitzer - Chapman 76-71 SCIAC Tournament Semifinals: Pomona-Pitzer - Cal Lutheran 90-83 Chapman - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 78-75 Courtesy of thesciac.org Tags : JACK ROGGIN, CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY, NCAA3 BASKETBALL All-SCIAC Awards 2022 - Mar 1, 2022
Player of the Year:  Brendan Mora (6'5''-G) of Pomona-PitzerDefensive Player of the Year: Jacob Alonzo (5'8''-PG) of Cal LutheranNewcomer of the Year: Pete Boyle (6'8''-F) of Pomona-PitzerCoach of the Year: Charles Katsiaficas of Pomona-Pitzer First Team Jacob Alonzo (5'8''-PG) of Cal Lutheran Josh Angle (6'3''-G) of CMS Matthew Eberle (6'5''-F) of Pomona-Pitzer Marcus Gee (6'2''-G/F) of Caltech Mason Johnson (6'3''-G) of Cal Lutheran Hayden Moore (6'4''-G) of Chapman Brendan Mora (6'5''-G) of Pomona-Pitzer Jack Roggin (6'0''-PG) of ChapmanSecond Team Paul Antonis (6'5''-G) of La Verne TJ Askew (6'6''-F) of CMS Anthony Giomi (6'4''-F) of Chapman Anthony Hollerich (6'2''-G/F) of Occidental Romeo Mays (6'7''-F) of Redlands Ahmad Young (6'2''-G) of Whittier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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