Leopards topple Tigers, fall to Stags
Campus Times
February 13, 1998
Sophomore guard Cameron Chappell drives to the basket and avoids an
Occidental defender after a pass from junior forward Chad Wells. The Leopards
beat the Tigers, 80-57, on Saturday and improved their record to 15-4 overall.
Following its 87-85 loss to Cal Lutheran last week, the University of
La Verne men's basketball team found that beating the Occidental Tigers
80-57 last Saturday in the Supertents was sweeter than the Hogi Yogi yogurt
prizes being handed out at the game.
"It [the win] helps purge our systems, " said head coach Terry
Boesel. "I told our guys we need to purge our bodies of the loss, and
the only way to do that is by winning the next game [the Occidental game]."
Even though the 2-6 Tigers lost the cat-fight without their starting
point guard David Newhall, the 23-point Leopard victory was still important
because it put the winning taste back into their collective mouths.
If the Leopards were to have lost against the Tigers it could have ended
any glimmer of confidence they might have had in winning the conference
title, because of the fact that Occidental was 2-5 prior to the engagement
and clearly the underdog.
"Coming off the loss you have to play twice as hard to vindicate
that loss," said freshman forward Richard Walsh. "The win gives
us momentum to build on."
The Leopards started the game with a high intensity level and got off
to a good start, which may have been the reason they pummeled the Tigers
by 23 points in the first half (46-23).
"I think we came out hard, our shots were falling, and they couldn't
match our intensity," said junior forward Eric Noyes. "Our defensive
intensity overwhelmed them."
The Leopards were once again out-matched in height but still managed
only two fewer rebounds (38-36), while putting three players in the double-digit
scoring column.
The double-digit Leopards scorers included freshman forward Kevin Gustafson
(12 points), junior guard Jared Wells (12 points), and junior guard/forward
Chad Duggins (10 points).
"I thought our intensity level tonight was better in the press
[zone-press] and the rebounds," said Boesel in contrast to the Cal
Lu loss.
The Occidental win placed the Leopards' in a two way tie with Pomona-Pitzer,
who beat Cal Lu 81-75 that same night to break a three way tie which was
once shared among the teams. The victory also extended the Leopards already
impressive record to 7-1 in conference and 15-4 overall.
Oddly enough, all five of the Leopards losses have come by a combined
total of 10 points, which is a factor that possibly reassures the ULV men's
basketball team that it is always in the game.
"It [the Occidental win] proves to the coaches that we're OK, and
we can compete for the conference," said Boesel. "We are not looking
any further past the next game. All our energy will go into Claremont."
In their most recent game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Wednesday night,
the Leopards found that going to sleep after taking an early 17-point lead
would cost them a wild 84-82 overtime loss.
Not only did Gustafson (game-high points leader with 26) sink a three-pointer
with eight seconds left in regulation to send the 73-70 game into overtime,
but there also was a scuffle between Leopards senior guard Gabe Duran and
Stag junior guard Joe Slander that seemed to rile the fans of both teams
into a frenzy of words against the referees.
By the 13-minute mark in the first half the Leopards had already managed
a 17-point lead, which seemed to dishearten CMS. Near the end of the first
half the Leopards seemed to tire and fall asleep, but still played hard
enough to hold onto a 42-34 halftime lead.
"Claremont did a good job of plucking away. We just jumped out
early on them, and that's when you have got to have that killer instinct,"
said Boesel. "We gave them [Claremont] confidence and they started
hitting them [baskets] at the end."
The strangest fact about the CMS game came from the statistics, which
indicated that the Leopards had out-rebounded the Stags 37-24. This is a
rare occurrence for the Leopards, who were over-matched in height and had
been plagued by their rebounding demon all season.
The loss to CMS is the Leopards second defeat in the past week, which
moves their conference record to 7-2 and 15-5 overall.
ULV plays in Pasadena against Caltech tomorrow night at 7:30.
