CLAREMONT, Calif. – The battle between the two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) teams who have yet to drop a conference game this season went the way of the University of Redlands Men's Basketball team Saturday afternoon beating Pomona-Pitzer 89-74 on the road.
Redlands who is off to one of the best starts in program history has now won four in a row and improves to 10-3, 4-0 SCIAC, currently sitting alone on top of the conference standings.
Chozen Amadi (Dallas, TX) had a game breaking out for 28-points to lead all scorers, which included a career high six triples. It was a story of two halves with the game remaining close at the break before UR went on to outscore the Sagehens 50-45 across the final 20:00 minutes to come away with the fifteen-point victory. Amadi was one of three Bulldogs in double figures joined by Colin McCarthy (Redwood City, CA) off the bench in 19 minutes who put up 14 points, three assists, two boards and a steal and Khyree Armstead (Mountlake Terrace, WA) who added 12 points, along with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
Across the opening six minutes the Bulldogs got off to a slow start offensively, scoring only six points, but due to their tough defensive pressure only trailed by four, 10-6.
The Bulldogs then established control of the game when Amadi scored five points during a 9-2 stretch that started with a Sam Abere (Lake Oswego, OR) basket and capped off with an Armstead two-handed jam.
UR would eventually extend their run to 19-4 as they took a 15-point lead, 36-21, with 4:17 remaining in the half. Amadi led the way with 10 points and a total of five different Bulldogs would score during this run. In the final four minutes the Sagehens were able to close the gap, but the deficit remained in double figures, 39-29, at the break.
In the opening five plus minutes of the second half the Sagehens continued their strong play as they swung the momentum, while taking a 44-42 lead, thanks in part to a 23-6 run, which dated back to the first half.
Armstead though came to the rescue with a quick four points that put UR back on top and that then sparked Josh Himel (Jacksonville, FL) who would knock down a three followed by first-year Cameron Brown (Bakersfield, CA) who added a pair of free throws to make it a seven-point game, 51-44.
After holding a double-digit lead for the majority of the first half and the beginning of the second, the Bulldogs trailed or were only up single-digits until Gunner Wooden (Canton, MI) hit a three to make it an 11-point margin, 60-49.
With 6:44 left in the half, the Sagehens made one last run to get within five, 68-63, after scoring nine-of-ten. But that five point deficit would be as close as they would get as the Bulldogs closed the game on a 21-8 push shutting the door on the Sagehens.
Redlands shot 42.2% from the field, 44.4% from three-point territory, and 82.6% from the free-throw line. Despite being outrebounded 43-34 the Bulldogs forced 21 Sagehen turnovers and turned them into 26 points, while adding 20 points in the paint, 17 fastbreak points and getting 36 points from the reserves.
The Bulldogs will stay on the road with a trip to Orange County this Wednesday night, January 11 when they take on Chapman University beginning at 7:00pm.