Occidental Beaten in Overtime

After Occidental College inducted three people into its basketball hall of fame at halftime Saturday night, Chris Anderson gave the crowd a glimpse of a possible future member by finishing with 30 points and 14 rebounds.

But the 6-foot-9 1/2 senior center’s performance wasn’t enough as Occidental fell, 80-77, in overtime to La Verne, one of its rivals in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

“(Anderson) is a super player,” La Verne Coach Gary Stewart said. “There is no way we could stop him. We could only try to contain him as best we could.”

La Verne (13-4, 3-1) built a 76-72 lead with 3 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in overtime, but Occidental closed to 77-75 when Ethan Caldwell was fouled while making a five-foot hook shot 13 seconds later. He sank the free throw.

Mark Loomis hit a free throw to put La Verne ahead, 78-75, with 2:11 left, but Anderson hit a 19-foot baseline jump shot with 50 seconds remaining to slice the lead to one.

Occidental had a chance to win the game with seven seconds to play, but DeShang Weaver intercepted a pass by Anderson and scored on an uncontested dunk. Caldwell’s desperation shot from halfcourt fell short as time expired.

With the score tied, 70-70, with 34 seconds remaining in regulation, Occidental played for the last shot. Caldwell drove up the middle, but his shot bounced off the left side of the rim and the game went into overtime.

“It’s been a hard season,” said Occidental Coach Brian Newhall, whose Tigers lost in the closing seconds to Whittier last week. “We can’t seem to put games away in the final four minutes.”

Weaver gave La Verne a 70-68 advantage with 1:37 to play on a two-handed dunk off a back-door pass.

The Tigers tied the score on Phil Engebretsen’s reverse layup with 51 seconds remaining.

Occidental fell behind by 11 points, 49-38, early in the first half. But the Tigers went ahead for the first time, 65-64, when Anderson tipped in his missed shot with 3:09 left.

Shaun Manning and Weaver led La Verne with 21 and 20 points and Caldwell added 15 for Occidental (5-11, 0-3).

La Verne led at the half, 40-33, and was ahead by nine points twice in the first half.

With Occidental trailing, 40-31, with less than a minute to play in the opening half, Anderson cut the deficit to seven with a one-handed jam off a baseline drive then blocked a last-second jump shot by Loomis.

Anderson established the inside game early for Occidental, scoring 12 of the Tigers’ first 14 points and 18 in the first half, mostly on short jump shots.

Occidental opened a 16-13 advantage midway through the half, but La Verne went on a 13-2 run over the next five minutes to take a 26-18 lead.

Stephen Bertz cut the deficit to four on a 15-foot jump shot, 33-29, at the 2:56 mark. However, Manning squelched the Occidental rally, scoring five unanswered points.