Amidst the excitement of "Senior Night," the University of Redlands men's basketball team rattled off seven unanswered points in overtime to eventually capture a 64-57 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) win against the visiting Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges.
After leading by as many as 12 points, Redlands faced its first deficit of the game with 6:19 left in the second half when Sagehen sophomore guard Xavyr Moss (Federal Way, WA) hit back-to-back free-throws to make it 43-42.
Moss, who had carried his team on his back all night, scored another bucket less than two minutes later to give Pomona-Pitzer a three-point advantage with 4:39 remaining in the second stanza.
In the next 20 seconds, the Bulldogs benefitted from back-to-back calls by the officials, which sent senior center Andrew Mills (Newcastle, WA) and senior forward Matt Dietrich (Phoenix, AZ) to the charity stripe. The two big men eventually tied it up at 45 apiece.
However, the Sagehens' Moss stormed back with consecutive baskets to make it a four-point game.
With the Currier crowd on its feet, the Bulldogs answered with a huge tip-in play by Dietrich and a critical three-pointer by sophomore guard Tristan Kirk (Redlands, CA) for a one-point lead with 1:08 left on the clock.
However, a costly Bulldog foul allowed Pomona-Pitzer's freshman forward John Weiss (Cleveland, OR) to convert the first of two free-throws to even the score at 50 all.
The teams traded baskets in the final 53 seconds, with Dietrich nailing a jumper for the Bulldogs and senior guard R.J. Maki (Claremont, CA) scoring for the Sagehens.
With 13 seconds left, Head Coach Jim Ducey called a timeout to talk it over with the Bulldogs.
The Sagehens' smothering defense forced Redlands to improvise on the inbound play with Dietrich firing a three-pointer as time expired, but the shot just missed, resulting in overtime.
From here it was all Bulldogs, as they rattled off seven unanswered points to start the extra period. During this stretch, Redlands sank all but one of its six free-throw attempts, with junior center Jack Colston (Dana Point, CA) and Kirk converting their opportunities.
Nonetheless, Pomona-Pitzer clawed back to within two points when Moss hit his third three-pointer of the game with 1:31 left in overtime.
But Kirk replied with a quick drive to the hole that made it a two possession game in favor of the Bulldogs at 61-57.
The Sagehen offense struggled to score in the final 90 seconds, while Redlands took care of the ball and made its free throws.
Dietrich finished out his last home game of the regular season with a team-leading 18-point, 10-rebound effort. Mills chipped in 13 points, six boards, and three assists, while Kirk scored 15 points, pulled in five rebounds and nabbed four steals. Colston added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Prior to the game, the Bulldogs honored seniors Kent Ervin (Bend, OR), Patrick Keating (Fountain Hills, AZ), Jordan Sanvictores (Redwood City, CA), Dietrich, and Mills.
Moss accounted for nearly half of his team's points with 26. He also contributed six rebounds and two steals. Two other Sagehens chipped in nine apiece.
With the win, Redlands (13-11, 10-3 SCIAC) currently sits in a tie for first place among the conference standings and looks forward to wrapping up the regular season with Tuesday's game at the University of La Verne, which begins at 7:30 p.m.
