LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team stopped their three-game losing skid Monday night in a solid 80-59 victory over Occidental College completing the season sweep over the Tigers.
The Bulldogs remain in the hunt for a top four spot within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament as they improve to 9-9, 5-6 SCIAC.
Their offense was on point all night as they shot 46.2% from the field, 40.6% from three-point territory and 53.8% from the free-throw line. They controlled the glass hauling in 37 rebounds and adding 28 points in the paint. They also got 37 points from the bench and forced 11 Oxy turnovers, turning them into 20 points.
Four Bulldogs recorded double figures led by Josh Himel (Jacksoville, FL) with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 15 of the points coming from behind the arc. Robert Power (Pacific Palisades, CA) came off the bench to play 20 minutes and he too was deadly from deep adding 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, going 4-of-5 from deep. Neil Owens (Pasadena, CA) tossed in 14 points with five rebounds and two assists and Khair Jackson (Canoga Park, CA) had an all around great performance with 10 points, three boards, and four steals.
Romeo Mays (Vallejo, CA), despite only having seven points did it on the defensive end totaling 10 rebounds, all defensive with a career high six blocks. A bright spot in the game was seeing Nathan Anderson (Los Angeles, CA) play 17 minutes with six points and five rebounds. He returned to the team over the weekend after battling with COVID-19 complications and not knowing if he would be able to return to the court this season. But he persevered and after seven and a half weeks away from basketball he was cleared and has brought more depth to this tough team for Coach Bridgeland.
It was a strong start for the Maroon and Grey who put up 44 points, shooting 52.8% from the field in the first half taking a 14-point lead into the break. The first field goal of the game came two minutes in from Himel and UR didn't look back putting together a 10-0 run that spanned three minutes and included and an one from Owens, a two handed dunk from Anderson, and a layup from Power. Anderson then came back to knock down a jumper that moved the score to 21-8 and that sparked another run for the U of R this time a 16-5 spurt that moved the advantage to twenty points.
Oxy tried to chip away at the lead scoring eleven of thirteen points down the stretch getting within eleven and then added four straight with under a minute to play to make it single digits. But that momentum quickly went away as Owens would knock down a triple followed by a jam from Mays that ended the half moving the score to 44-30. In the second half it was all Redlands with Power single handily scoring the first 11 points for the Bulldogs, which included back-to-back-to-back triples. This opened the game up to 55-34 and despite an ensuing 11-1 run by the Tigers to get within eleven for the second time they had no answer for the high-powered offense of the University of Redlands who went on to score 36 points in the half en route to the lopsided victory.
Redlands returns to the court this Wednesday, February 9 looking to win two in a row as they welcome into Currier Gym the University of La Verne beginning at 7:00pm.