COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Chapman Defeats Patten, Clinches Winning Season

Chapman was guaranteed its first winning season in six years by beating Patten College, 106-101, in a nonconference men’s basketball game Thursday at the Hutton Center.

The Panthers, who improved to 13-6 with six games left in the season, led by as many as 24 points in the second half before Patten closed the gap.

The last Chapman team with a winning season was the 1988-89 team that went 17-12 and advanced to the title game of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament. Since then, Chapman has dropped out of the CCAA, stopped offering athletic scholarships and will become an NCAA Division III independent next season.

Patten (5-18), an NAIA school in Oakland playing its first year of intercollegiate basketball, hung close early and led, 21-19, with 12 minutes left in the first half. Chapman’s Anthony Gonzales then made a three-pointer to start a 17-2 run that seemed to put the game out of reach.

But Patten, which has played 19 games on the road and plays at Concordia tonight, fought back with three of its players scoring at least 26 points: Richard Thorpe (35), Karras Moore (28) and Eric Mendoza-Govan(26). Patten outscored Chapman, 23-10, in the last five minutes of the game and 8-0 in the final minute, but the Lions had too far to go.

Stefan Mumaw had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Panthers, who play at UC San Diego tonight. Seldom-used reserve forward Jason Roczey scored a career-high 13 points, including three three-pointers--all in the first half--and Umahl Anderson and Edgar Diaz each added 11.