P-P Earns Fourth Win in SCIAC as Battles with Redlands and CMS Await

With only three games left to play this season, Pomona-Pitzer men’s basketball earned a much-needed road win against a talented La Verne team on Wednesday.

Nothing has come easy for the young Sagehen squad this season, and this game began in similar fashion. P-P couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half, managing only 20 points on 8 for 31 shooting and ending the half down 7. This contest really was a tale of two halves, however, as the team in blue dominated the remainder of the game.

“We actually didn’t make that many adjustments,” guard Harrison Green PO ’13 said. Rather, the Hens continued to move the ball well, and shots finally began to fall. On their way to 43 second-half points, P-P shot a scorching 47 percent from the field after intermission. Xavyr Moss PZ ’13 and RJ Maki PO ’11 contributed 11 points each, but it was John Weiss PO ’14 who led the way for the Sagehens on offense. Scoring 12 points on 6-8 shooting, the Pomona freshman turned in the most complete performance of his young career.

“He really stepped up and had an awesome game. Defensively, as well. He had some big steals. He just made big play after big play and, it was really great for a freshman to come in off the bench and have such a big impact,” Green said.

“It was great. We were all really happy for him. It’s something John’s been capable of this whole time, so I’m glad to see him do what we all knew he could,” added guard Evan Zahniser PO ’12.

Along with their lights-out shooting, Pomona-Pitzer really tightened up on defense, holding La Verne to 22 second-half points. With this victory, the Hens improved to 4-8 in conference. They’ll look to continue their offensive barrage at Redlands this Saturday and at home on Tuesday against CMS (ranked #2 and #1 in SCIAC, respectively) in their final two games of the season.

“This is a really tight conference,” Green said. “We feel that every game could go either way. We know we have a good chance as long as we focus on what we need to do.”