Chapman Stumbles, but Recovers in Time to Collect a 90-76 Win

After seven games this year, the Chapman College Panthers have accomplished something they didn’t get done in 27 last year: they are over .500.

Chapman is 4-3 after defeating Southern California College, 90-76, Saturday night before 955 fans at Hutton Sports Center. By winning their fourth straight, the Panthers have their longest winning streak in Coach Kevin Wilson’s three-years at the school.

Dubious achievements, these.

A bit like being a favorite son when you’re an only son, perhaps, but they are achievements nonetheless.

Chapman almost didn’t have the luxury of considering the triumph of such deeds. Southern California College led by 13 five minutes into the second half, and only a barrage of three-point plays and three-point shots got Chapman back into it.

“We weren’t ready,’ Wilson said. “The questions in my mind were: how far we were going to be down and could we come back?”

Thirteen points and yes.

With Chapman trailing, 50-37, Jon Samuelson, a 6-foot-6 natural forward who starts at point guard, put on a show from the right sideline. In four minutes, he hit three three-point shots and added a basket off a turnover. With a little help from his friends, Chapman led, 55-54.

“Tonight I just started hitting a few,’ Samuelson said. Indeed. Before tonight, he was just 6-for-25 from three-point range. He hit three in a row tonight, missing only one. He finished with 15 points, second to Kelly Huston’s team-high 19.

About the time Chapman got hot, Southern California College went cold. Even outside sharpshooter Jon Harr, who scored 18 in the first half and a total of 29, lost his touch.

In less than six minutes, the Panthers had put on a 20-6 run.

Much of Chapman’s turnaround success came from substitutions. Maurice Thompson, a 5-foot-10 speedster who can push the tempo more readily than the 6-foot-6 Samuelson, came in to run the show, leaving Samuelson free to wander to the sideline where he had such success with the three-point shot.

“At first we were trying to go with size, then we went with speed,” Wilson said.

But even with success such that Wilson calls a “dilemma,” smiling all the while, changes in the starting lineup don’t appear to be forthcoming.

“Samuelson can play point, wing or post,’ Wilson said. Alan (Erickson, a starter) and Chris (Perine, also a starter) can play wing or post, and of course, Mo (Thompson) plays point. We’ve got four guys for three positions and I think we need them all.”

You hear that kind of talk often from coaches, but usually there’s a rankled sub or a player not scoring like he’d like to who’s happy to differ.

Not so here. Thompson says he really doesn’t care if he comes off the bench. Samuelson, a senior who hasn’t played point since he played at Sonora high school, just shrugs as if being terrorized by pesky little guys at the point doesn’t bother him.

Fact is, these guys have won more than half as many games in eight days as they won in all of last season, and they’re not complaining.

“I just want to do whatever I can to help the team,” Samuelson says, smiling. “ Really .”