Chapman Rallies to Defeat Occidental

After struggling with its shooting early, Chapman got hot in the second half and beat Occidental, 86-76, in a nonconference men’s basketball game Monday at the Hutton Center.

Despite Chapman’s significant height advantage--Occidental has three players on its roster who are 6 feet 5 and the Panthers have seven--Occidental came up big in the first half and led, 36-35, at the break.

Occidental (3-3) was especially pesky on defense inside, and Stefan Mumaw, Chapman’s 6-8 center, made only two of eight shots in the first half. Mumaw wasn’t the only poor-shooting Panther; Chapman made only 12 of 28 shots in the half (42%).

“We’ve been cold for five, let me see, six games,” Chapman Coach Mike Bokosky said.

The Panthers experienced a thaw in the second half, making their first four shots and seven of their first 10 to take a 47-42 lead with 16 minutes 15 seconds remaining. The Panthers made 50% of their second-half shots.

Mumaw scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, Toby Curto scored 11 of his 15 and Ramin Bastani scored 10 of his 15.

Occidental hung tough, going on an 11-2 run to take a 56-53 lead with 10:28 left.

However, Chapman (6-3) soon responded with a spurt to put away the Tigers.

Adam Dzierzynski started the run with two free throws at the 6:06 mark. Occidental then made turnovers three of its next four times down the floor and Curto made a three-point shot and a layup on a fast break. By the time Curto scored again--another three-pointer with 1:58 left--the Panthers had outscored Occidental, 16-2, and led, 80-66.

Dzierzynski had 18 points and nine assists and Bastani had 16 points and five assists. Mumaw had a game-high 13 rebounds.

Occidental’s leading scorer John Pike scored 10 points, about 15 less than his average. Anson Credille, Kory Combs, a 1988 Tustin graduate, and Hon Trieu each scored 13.