Men's Basketball Captures First SCIAC Tournament Title since 2013

Photo by Brad Freeman

Bulldogs during a February home game.

Source: goredlands.com

The University of Redlands men's basketball team (23-4) dominated Chapman University in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament Final, 93-64, as their offense shot an unreal 58.2 percent from the field and made 12-of-22 three-pointers.

It was not quite as quick of a start as against Occidental College in the Semi-Final Friday, but they scored the first buckets thanks to senior forward Lucas Gordon (San Marcos) and senior guard Jake Hlywiak (Valencia).

Chapman responded well with five unanswered points before Hlywiak made a jumper in the paint that began an 8-3 run that included triples by Gordon and grad student Chozen Amadi (Richardson, Texas).

Redlands' first double-digit lead of the game came at the 14:21 mark when freshman Austin Unegbu (Long Beach) made a pair of free throws. That was followed by a sophomore Donovan Ware (Palmdale) three off a sophomore Nathan Mattera (Fontana) assist.

The lead reached as high as 14, 30-16, with 8:11 to play as they made another three-pointer, this time coming from Hlywiak. The Panthers, though, tightened the game back up with a 12-4 run down under five minutes to play.

Leading by seven, junior Derek Sangster (Sunnyvale) made a pair of free throws with five seconds left before the Panthers got down the floor and had a chance to get the last points but Hlywiak blocked the layup to send them into the break, up nine, 43-34.

In the second half the lead hovered around the mid-teens before a string of three Panther turnovers led to three-pointers by Amadi and Hlywiak to push the lead into the 20's for the first time.

The second big run came with less than six minutes remaining with senior Cam Brown (Bakersfield) making a layup and the defense forcing back-to-back Panther turnovers. Ware and Amadi both took advantage of the mistakes to extend the game to 23, 81-56.

The run would eventually reach 10-0 on layups by senior Omari Ferguson (Chicago, Ill.) as Redlands put the game away up 27, 85-58.

It was another balanced scoring effort with five players in double figures. Amadi had a game-high 18 points. Gordon had a double double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Ferguson and junior Jhace Boston (Bakersfield) had a combined 22 points.  

Tournament most valuable player, Hlywiak, had 14 points thanks to another four made three-pointers. He finished the two-game tournament with 33 points, nine made threes, and four assists.

Ferguson had eight steals in the two games, a new tournament record. Boston's five blocks is also a tournament record.

Team recordwise, the Bulldogs' 193 total points is a record as are their 30 steals, 10 blocks, and 27 made three-pointers.