Samuelson’s 33 Not Enough as Chapman Falls

Jon Samuelson, the Chapman College shooting guard who had lost his touch and confidence the past two years, found both Tuesday night in a nonconference game against Loyola Marymount.

Samuelson scored a career-best 33 points, 22 in the second half, but it wasn’t quite enough as the Division II Panthers (9-8) lost to the Division I Lions, 100-95, in front of 1,150 in Gersten Pavilion at Los Angeles.

Chapman is Samuelson’s third school. He started at Cal State Fullerton, transferred to Fullerton College and then switched to Chapman where he finally is finding his niche.

This much was evident Tuesday night. Loyola built a 70-58 lead with 15:40 left and appeared on the verge of a blowout until Samuelson went to work.

Eight minutes later, after Samuelson had scored 12 points, Chapman caught Loyola, 80-80. After the teams traded baskets Samuelson hit his fourth three-pointer to give Chapman an 85-82 lead with 5:35 left.

But forward Mike Yoest, who scored a career-high 37 points, made two straight baskets and Loyola (10-7) scored 11 straight points for the victory.

Mark Armstrong had 13 points and led all rebounders with 10 for Loyola. His nine first-half rebounds kept Loyola in the game when Chapman was up by as much as nine points. Guard Chris Nikchevich had 14 points and 11 assists, and Jeff Fryer, a former Corona del Mar standout, added 10 points.

Chapman led for much of the first half, building a 41-32 advantage with seven minutes left behind Kelly Huston’s 15 first-half points and Samuelson’s 11.

But Loyola made a 28-7 run to take a 58-49 hafltime lead. Yoest had 17 points and Armstrong added 11.

“The first half we were just switching defenses until we found something that clicked,” Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said. “With about six minutes left we went to our zone. Ironically we generated our run better off our zone than our press. We were fishing.”

Westhead said he enjoyed the rapid tempo, though Chapman did too.

“Fortunately, even when we’re not playing real well if we’re running we’re OK. If we’re not playing well and it slows down we’re in trouble. Even though we got down in the first half I wasn’t too worried because of the pace.”