Men’s Basketball pulls away late, beats Redlands

REDLANDS, Calif. — The University of La Verne men's basketball team used a big closing run to defeat Redlands, 69-50, at Currier Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

How it happened: The Leopards finished the game on an 18-4 run to put the game away.

After a basket by Sean Milligan brought the Bulldogs within 51-46, Brett Stephan answered with a layup and a three-point play to extend the lead to double digits.

Then, Redlands decided to foul with just over three minutes to go, hoping La Verne would miss enough free throws to allow the Bulldogs to get back into the game.

But the plan backfired as La Verne sank 11 of 16 free throws in the last three minutes alone. The Leopards also smothered Redlands on defense, holding the Bulldogs without a field goal in the last six minutes of the game.

Players of the game: Hakim Arnold and Stephan combined to go 7-for-9 at the charity stripe during the game-closing run.

Arnold finished with a game-high 20 points and Stephan added 16 off the bench, including 10 of 10 from the free throw line.

Milligan and Blake O'Brien each scored 13 for Redlands.

Stat of the game: The Leopards attempted a staggering 33 free throws in the game and responded by making 70 percent of them. La Verne came into the game shooting 55 percent at the line.

What it means: La Verne strings together a pair of wins for the first time since opening the season 2-0 (at Willamette, at Pacific) and improves to 7-10 (3-5 SCIAC).

Redlands slips to 5-12 overall and 2-6 in SCIAC play.

Up next: The Leopards will try to maintain their momentum when it travels to Whittier next Tuesday, Feb. 3.