The University of La Verne rallied from a double-digit deficit in the first half against Oglethorpe University and made crucial plays in the final minutes to post a 60-57 victory over the Petrels in men's basketball action Sunday at Frantz Athletic Court.
The victory allowed the Leopards (4-4) to snap a three-game losing skid to move back to the .500 mark for the season, sending Oglethorpe to a second loss on consecutive days during its California trip. The Petrels lost to Chapman by the identical 60-57 verdict a day earlier in Orange.
The Leopard defense contained the Petrels attack in the final four minutes of the game as it held Oglethorpe without a field goal for over three minutes in that span.
Tied at 54, the Leopards went ahead to stay on an Austin Napolitano layup with 1:39 remaining. La Verne stopped the Petrels on the ensuing possession, and would take a four-point lead on a Trevor Woodland jumper with 32 seconds to play.
Oglethorpe hit a free throw to pull within three, and would get a layup from Joe Kennedy with 15 seconds left to get within a point at 58-57. Woodland was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and made one of two free throws to give the Leos a 59-57 advantage at the 13-second mark.
John Leggett rebounded a missed three-pointer by Alex Richey and was fouled with one second remaining, and finished the game by making one of two to seal the victory.
The Leopards started slowly by spotting Oglethorpe a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of play. The Petrels opened its largest lead of the game at 13 points on a dunk from forward Todd Ward with 11:51 remaining in the first half to put Oglethorpe up 15-2.
La Verne slowly chipped away at the lead, eventually pulling within two points on a layup from Jeremy Lay to cut the Petrels' advantage to 27-25 with 2:55 remaining before the half. John Leggett's layup with five seconds left gave the Leopards their first tie of the contest to knot the game at 31-31 heading into intermission.
La Verne shot 48.1% (25-52) from the field compared to a 47.3% effort (26-55) from Oglethorpe. The Leopards held the Petrels to 1-11 shooting (9.1%) from three-point range. Both teams struggled from the free throw line as the Leopards hit 6 of 12 (50%) while the Petrels made just 4 of 11 from the charity stripe.
Woodland led La Verne with 19 points for the game finishing 8-14 from the field including a pair of three-pointers. John Leggett collected 15 points on 6-7 shooting while Austin Napolitano added 10 points and 5 rebounds.
For Oglethorpe, Ward tallied a game-high 21 points while collecting 14 rebounds to post a double-double. Andrew Steioff contributed 14 points and 6 boards for the Petrels.
La Verne enjoy a 10-game hiatus before returning to action at home on Tuesday, December 29 to face George Fox University at 7:30 pm.
