Claremont Overcomes Keister, Occidental to Record 75-70 Victory

Many Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference coaches and players have become intimately familiar with--and thoroughly frustrated by--The Move.

The invention of Occidental forward John Keister, The Move is no threat to the Ickey Shuffle, but it has found its place in the Tiger offense. Keister complements his deadly outside jump shot by using, well, his keester. And whether he is touched by a defender or not, he punctuates most of his shots by skittering across the floor on his derriere.

But the tail of the Tiger wasn’t quite wide enough to carry Occidental on Saturday night as host Claremont overcame Keister’s 34-point performance to post a 75-70 victory.

The win moves Claremont (13-10, 6-2) into second place in the SCIAC behind Pomona and drops Occidental (15-8, 5-3) into third.

Keister, who didn’t hit his stride until the second half, had a chance to tie with 30 seconds to play but missed a one-handed, 25-foot shot against a triple team.

Occidental, which trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, closed the gap to 71-70 when Stephen Bertz made a three-point shot with 1:20 to play.

Henry Allbrecht answered with a running shot in the key and then came Keister’s ill-fated try.

The Stags put the game out of reach when Allbrecht missed a free throw after a desperation foul by Occidental. Allbrecht then collected the rebound and scored underneath. Occidental trailed, 51-38, with 13 minutes to play when Keister decided he wasn’t going to take the loss sitting down.

He made a 15-foot jump shot and, a few seconds later, nailed a three-point shot. With help from The Move, he drew a foul after that shot, a call that drew vehement protest from Stag Coach Dave Wells.

After the game, however, Wells’ critique of Keister was more complimentary.

“(The Move) is so effective,” Wells said. “John’s an outstanding player and the only frustrating thing is that officials have to call it.”

Chris Anderson scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Occidental and Ethan Caldwell added nine points.

Claremont was led by Allbrecht (17 points), Chris Greene (16) and Dominic Nappi (15).

With about five minutes remaining in the half, Claremont put together a 9-2 run behind Nappi, a freshman from North Hollywood High, to take a 32-26 lead.