CLAREMONT, Calif. – Pomona-Pitzer fought back from a 17-point second half deficit to complete a 95-90 comeback overtime win over visiting Whitworth University in Monday's non-conference men's basketball battle at Voelkel Gymnasium.
The Pirates (5-2) led for all of regulation and made a season-high 16 three-pointers, but the Sagehens (5-3) shot a season-high 56.7% from the floor and made 20 of 22 free throw attempts to earn the win.
Stephen Behil provided much of the Whitworth offense early on, scoring 10 of the first 15 Pirate points as the Bucs led by four at the 12-minute mark. The offense went cold midway through the half as shots wouldn't fall, but the Pirate defense prevented Pomona from jumping ahead. With eight minutes on the clock, the Bucs caught fire and made 10 of their final 13 first half shots. Ben Nyquist kicked off a 26-12 run with a three-pointer and Caden Bateman's layup gave the Pirates a 33-23 lead at the 5:50 mark. After a trio of three-point baskets, Behil hit a step-through shot before Nate Krohn's jumper gave Whitworth a 46-31 lead at the half. The Pirates shot 44.7% from the field in the first half and made eight three-pointers. Behil led all scorers with 17 points.
Pomona came out with intensity in the second half and went on a 12-0 run to cut the Whitworth lead to 48-43 behind a pair of three-pointers from Charlie Hutchinson. The Pirates stretched the lead back out to 11 after a Krohn three-pointer and maintained it for the next eight minutes. The Sagehens continued to chip away, eventually trimming the lead to six with a Matthew Diekman jumper. Diekman's basket kicked off a 10-2 Pomona-Pitzer run over the final four minutes of regulation, tying the game at 79 after Clyde Rosenberg hit two free-throws with 17 seconds to play. Behil fired a go-ahead three-pointer before time expired but couldn't get it to fall. The Pirates were held to one field goal in the final 4:15 of the second half.
After trailing throughout the first two periods, Pomona took its first lead of the game 81-79 after a Hutchinson layup on the Sagehen's first overtime possession. After Nyquist tied it with a layup, Kyle Jasper was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws. Behil answered with a jumper from the corner to draw even at 84 with 3:21 remaining. Two minutes later, another Behil long-range bucket put the Bucs up by one, but Diekman responded with one of his own to retake a two-point lead. Over the final 45 seconds of action, the Pirates got just one of their shots to fall and Sagehens made all six of their free-throw attempts to ice the game.
Pomona shot 64.7% (22-34) from the field in the second half and overtime and went 9-9 from the free-throw line in OT. Whitworth shot 41.0% (34-83) from the floor and 34.8% (16-46) from the three-point line. The Pirates edged the Sagehens on the glass 39-38 while the paint battle was won by Pomona 42-24.
Behil led the Whitworth offense with a season-high 26 points on six made three-pointers. Colton Looney put up 19 points and six assists. Bateman and Nyquist each added 10 points and Ty Edwards grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Diekman and Jasper each scored 26 points to lead the Sagehens. Hutchinson had a double-double with 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
The Whitworth men visit 19th ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday at 5:00pm.
