ORANGE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team dropped a heartbreaker Saturday afternoon, 84-76 to Chapman University as they conclude their second game of a three-game road trip.
The U of R drops to 8-9, 4-6 SCIAC and currently sit 6th in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings.
Three Bulldogs recorded double figures led by Khair Jackson (Canoga Park, CA) who powered in 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, playing 26 minutes. Romeo Mays (Vallejo, CA) added 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting along with eight boards and Neil Owens (Pasadena, CA) chipped in with 11 points, five assists and three rebounds.
The game saw 18 ties and 26 lead changes as the opening twenty minutes were back and forth. UR struggled early putting up six points across the first seven minutes until sophomore Robert Power (Pacific Palisades, CA) came alive with a triple that moved the deficit to four at the 12:47 mark. Over the next 2:05 sophomores Owens and Josh Himel (Jacksonville, FL) would find their stroke helping the U of R even the game at sixteen after a pair of jumpers and a three-pointer.
Then with 9:14 to go Mays put the Bulldogs on top with a layup and from that point it was back and forth until Power would drain a three with :25 seconds left in the half that put UR back on top. But this lead would hold just for a few seconds as Chapman would come down on their final possession and would convert a triple of their own giving them a one point lead heading into intermission.
In the second half the Bulldogs trailed for the first nine minutes, but stayed in striking distance. Then with eleven minutes left Himel lifted the offense knocking down another three that tied the game up at 54-54. After that Owens would knock down a jumper that gave the Maroon and Grey the lead, but that advantage went away as CU would tie the game up two more times before pulling away late taking the first double-digit lead with 2:13 left thanks to a 6-0 run. Mays would tack on another two free-throws that kept it in single digits, but an ensuing 7-2 run by the Panthers would put the game away.
The bench was a key weapon for the Maroon and Grey, combining for 32 points, with 42.1% of their scoring coming from the reserves. They shot 47% from the field, 36% from three-point territory, and 55.6% from the free-throw line. They added 40 points in the paint, 10 points off turnovers and committed just eight miscues in the game.
Redlands completes their road trip with a make-up game at Occidental College, Monday, February 7 with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.