By Nate Rodriguez, Sports Information Intern
LA VERNE — The script flipped on the visiting Caltech Beavers on Monday night, who traveled to The Tents at the University of La Verne to suffer a 74-59 loss at the hands of the avenging Leopards.
After allowing 40 points in the first half against Caltech on Saturday, the two teams were primed for a head-to-head clash with the Leopards leading 13-12 after six minutes. The starting five opened up for 27 first-half points, and La Verne held a comfortable 33-23 lead at the half behind a pair of 7-point starts for junior guards Brian Adams and Paul Antonis.
Antonis finished his night with nine points and nine rebounds, nearly eclipsing another double-double as Adams scored a career-high 17 points and commanded the floor with six assists. Junior guard Alex Blanco came off the bench and scored 22 points, heavily impacting the game in the second half with his tenacious defense and half of his scores.
La Verne crashed the boards consistently to keep up with the Beavers throughout the night. The Leopards claimed 36 rebounds, 26 off the defensive glass, which helped them maintain possession of the rock and keep the Beavers from leveraging the score with second chance opportunities. They once led the Beavers by 22 points with three minutes remaining in regulation, but double bonus foul trouble for both teams collapsed the score differential to 15.
Head coach Richard Reed snapped a five-game head-to-head losing streak with the win against Caltech, ending a nine-game losing skid for the Leopards. La Verne moves to 3-14 overall and looks forward to hosting its next-door neighbor, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. underneath The Tents.