The University of La Verne held off a late Cal Lutheran rally in the final seven minutes on to edge the Kingsmen 61-58 in men's basketball action Saturday night at Frantz Athletic Court.
The win, coupled with a Claremont-Mudd-Scripps loss to Occidental, allowed the Leopards to move into a tie for first place in the SCIAC standings.
La Verne (12-8, 7-2 SCIAC) led 30-24 at the half before the Kingsmen closed to within a point on Xavier Walton's three-pointer to narrow the margin to 36-35 with 15:45 remaining. From there, the Leos embarked on a 15-3 run which culminated on a Hoyt jumper with 7:59 to hold their largest lead of the game at 53-38.
Cal Lutheran didn't go away and shaved eight points off the deficit in a span of four minutes. A three-pointer by the Kingsmen's Jayvaughn Nettles cut the Leopardlead to 54-47 with 4:04 left to play.
Two free throws by Austin Napolitano with 30 seconds left extended the Leopard advantage to six points at 60-54. CLU (10-10, 4-5 SCIAC) responded by scoring four points in 11 seconds on a Greg Grimm layup followed by a steal from Nettles and basket from Brian Holland to pull within two points with 19 seconds to play.
A free throw from Napolitano gave La Verne a 61-58 lead with 12 seconds to go. On the ensuing possession, Grimm missed a 25-footer with two seconds left, giving the Leopards a regular season sweep of the Kingsmen.
The Leopards were aided by eight three-point field goals on the night despite shooting 37.0% (20-54) from the field. La Verne tallied 38 rebounds compared to 36 for CLU.
Tyler Hoyt tallied a double-double with team-highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Both Hoyt and Trevor Woodland connected on 3 three-point field goals on the evening.
Grimm, the SCIAC's leading scorer, paced the Kingsmen with a game-high 21 points. Nettles added 12 in the loss.
La Verne continues league play Wednesday as it hosts Occidental on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.
