The University of La Verne men's basketball team saw its three-game win streak snapped as Chapman University embarked on two scoring runs in the second half to top the Leopards 85-74 Wednesday night at Frantz Athletic Court.
La Verne (3-2) battled the Panthers to a draw at halftime, leading by as much as nine points at 16-7 with 13:17 left in the first half before the visitors embarked on a 14-2 spurt to grab a 21-18 advantage with 9:49 remaining before intermission.
The Leopards reclaimed the lead and push their advantage on four points on a Trevor Woodland three-pointer to grab a 27-23 edge at the 6:30 mark. The Panthers led 32-30 when Woodland scored on a jumper to knot the contest at 32-32 heading into the break.
Chapman (7-1) came out of the half scoring on its first five possessions on its way to building a nine-point lead at 48-39 with 14:18 remaining. The Leopards would respond by cutting into the Panther margin, closing to within three points on multiple occassions, the last on a basket from Austin Napolitano to narrow the Panther lead to 57-54 with 7:40 left to play.
The Panthers then proceeded on a decisive 8-0 run culminating in a steal and layup from Griffin Ramme to extend the lead to 65-54 at the 5:39 mark. Chapman would hold its double-digit lead in all but two seconds the remainder of the game.
Solid shooting aided the Panthers in the second half as the squad went 14-23 (60.9%) from the field in addition to connecting on 22 of 27 free throw attempts (81.5%) during the final 20 minutes.
The Leopards shot 51.9% from the field (28-54) for the game but committed 19 turnovers.
Chapman's Justin Riley led all scorers with 28 points on 9-13 field goal shooting in addition to a 10-13 night from the free throw line. Brandon Lim added 17 points for the Panthers while teammate Max Piner chipped in with 15 points.
Woodland tallied a team-high 26 points for the Leos, finishing 3-6 from three-point range. Napolitano added 18 points for La Verne.
The Leopards look to return to the win column Saturday as they play host to West Coast Baptist College at Frantz Athletic Court in the second meeting between the schools. La Verne topped West Coast Baptist 87-75 back on November 29.
