ST. LOUIS — Hakim Arnold and Kendall McClain of the University of La Verne men's basketball team were named to the All-Tournament Team of the 31st Annual Lopata Classic, hosted by the Washington University in St. Louis, as the Leopards dropped a pair of games to No. 4 WUSTL and No. 6 Emory.
In two games, Arnold scored 33 points on 66.7 percent shooting and brought down eight rebounds. McClain scored 17 total points and was 5-of-12 from the three-point line coming off the bench in both games.
La Verne drops to 2-2 overall.
Game 1: No. 4 Washington (Mo.) 83, La Verne 48
The Leopards struggled to execute on offense and lost to the fourth-ranked Washington U., 83-48, on Friday at WU Field House.
The Leopards could not solve the Bears' defense and had a hard time getting anything going offensively. La Verne shot just 30.5 percent from the field and committed 21 turnovers, which led to 25 points on the other end for Washington U.
La Verne started well, matching Washington U. basket-for-basket through about eight minutes into the first half before the lid closed on the basket. After a Kendall McClain three-pointer pulled the Leopards within 17-15, La Verne made just three field goals in the next seven minutes and the Bears ran away to a 13-point lead.
Washington U. closed the first half on a 6-0 and opened the second with six unanswered points to extend the lead to 45-22, effectively sealing the game.
Hakim Arnold led the Leopards with 13 points and grabbed five rebounds. Josiah Sukumaran had an efficient night, scoring eight points on 4-of-6 shooting while collecting seven rebounds.
Washington U. was very efficient on offense. The Bears shot 50.8 percent from the floor, including a 6-of-14 performance from the outside, and shot 77.3 percent from the free throw line.
Luke Silverman-Lloyd scored a game-high 16 points. David Fatoki had 11 and dished out six assists.
Game 2: No. 6 Emory 80, La Verne 59
La Verne took care of the ball in its second game of the tournament but lost the rebounding battle in a 80-59 loss against No. 6 Emory.
The Eagles outrebounded the Leopards, 49-36, including a 16-to-8 advantage on the offensive glass.
Arnold led all scorers with 20 points on 10-of-12 shooting and McClain had 11 off the bench.
The Leopards went into the break trailing 36-22 and the Eagles broke the game open with a 21-6 run to open the second half. Michael Florin led the Eagles' charge as he scored 10 consecutive points in a span of 90 second during the run.
Emory jumped out to a big early lead aided by Alex Foster's 11 first-half points and stretched their lead to 31-14 on a pair of baskets by Jim Gordon at about the seven-minute mark. The Leopards responded with an 8-1 run to cut the deficit to 33-22, but that was as close as they would get.
Up next: La Verne will take to its home court for the first time this season when it hosts Mt. Aloysius on Dec. 17 at 2 p.m.
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