The University of Redlands men's basketball team kicked off Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) competition on Saturday afternoon against the Occidental College Tigers in the friendly confines of Currier Gymnasium. Despite stringing together a solid overall effort, the Maroon and Gray failed to overcome a consistent Tiger offensive unit en route to a 66-70 defeat.

Sophomore center Blake O'Brien (Sammamish, WA) took over early for the Bulldogs by drilling their first seven points, which started off by draining a triple. He later knocked down two jumpers. Junior guard Sean Milligan (Portland, OR) had no trouble feeding O'Brien during his early hot streak, as he assisted on two of the three buckets for Redlands' early 7-5 edge.

Unfortunately, the Tigers responded with an 11-0 run that found the Bulldogs down by nine points. Freshman guard Joey Sponheim (Redlands, CA) axed the run with a three-pointer to keep the Bulldogs within striking distance at 10-16. After assisting Sponheim' s three-pointer, sophomore guard Wyatt Pannabecker (Choteau, MT) chipped in on the scoring front with a nice up-and-under lay-up to keep the Bulldogs knocking on the door with about 11 minutes remaining in the opening half.

After a Redlands' timeout just beyond the halfway mark, Milligan continued to help chip away at Occidental's lead by working his way to the charity stripe and burying two free-throws to make it a two-point game. Freshman forward Trevor Brown (San Mateo, CA) followed a possession later by knotting up the score at 21 all with an aggressive lay-up off the glass with less than nine minute remaining.

O'Brien and Brown continued to contribute hardy offense by combining for four points in the latter portion of the first frame. Junior forward Ryan Borak (Yorba Linda, CA) did his part by knocking down two free-throws, followed by a jumper from sophomore point guard Kyle Husslein (Tamuning, Guam) to cap of the first half with the Bulldogs trailing by a score of 29-33.

The Maroon and Gray began the second half by utilizing a plethora of weapons, including sophomore forward Reed Hopkins (Spokane, WA), who notched the first six Bulldog points in the opening three minutes of play. His highlight reel featured two baskets, a pair of free-throws, one steal, and a successful block.

Borak piggybacked off Hopkin's efforts by laying a shot up and in off the glass, which was assisted by senior center Shawn James (Plano, TX), to tie the game at 37-all with 14:08 left on the clock.

James continued to work his offensive magic by displaying strength to the hoop and completing an and-one play to keep the Bulldogs within two. Milligan followed a couple possessions later with a beautiful and-one play as well.

The Bulldogs stayed aggressive by driving the lane and punching tickets to the charity stripe, as Pannabecker and Hopkins each drilled two free-throws. Hopkins continued to act as a defensive menace by recording another steal and taking the ball coast-to-coast shortly after his made free-throws to keep the Bulldogs within four points with 7:02 reading on the game clock.

Despite two made three-pointers by Hopkins and one by Milligan in the final five minutes of the contest, the Bulldogs ultimately fell to the Tigers by the final score of 66-70.

In his first start of the season, Hopkins led the Bulldogs in scoring with 16 points while adding three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. O'Brien backed Hopkins with a double-double that featured 13 points and 11 boards. In addition, he tallied one steal and one assist.

Borak was the leading scorer off the bench for Redlands, as he recorded eight points on a 3-for-5 shooting night from the floor. Milligan drained nine points and dished out a team-high five assists as well.

The Bulldogs dominated the paint on the offensive end by out-scoring the Tigers, 36-18. In addition, they capitalized off Occidental's turnovers by recording 12 points and had a stronger bench that produced 24 points to the Tigers' 10.

The Bulldogs (4-6, 0-1 SCIAC) continue SCIAC action on Monday, January 4, by facing off against the Caltech Beavers at 7:30 p.m. in Pasadena.