Justin Ries
Staff Writer
The men’s basketball team could not get into gear against Chapman on Wednesday evening at Frantz Athletic Court, losing 71-55. La Verne was coming off a loss to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Chapman scored the first points of the game by getting in the paint and hitting a midrange jumper for two points. While attempting a three-pointer, senior guard Dahmaj Warren was fouled. Unfortunately, Warren would miss all three free throws.
This would set the tone early for the Leopards at the free throw line, where they started out 1-7.
Senior forward Ryan Lin grabbed two offensive rebounds and went to the foul line to shoot two free throws. He made one out of two to get the first points for La Verne.
Graduate student forward Paul Antonis scored on a corner three and hustled back on defense to get a block. He blocked another shot later in the first half, which would lead to a transition bucket by senior guard Josh Rook.
“From the beginning of the season, I feel like I started slow, but we’re putting in more work for that,” Antonis said. “Just being able to hit those shots, and kind of knock those down when I need to is what I have been working on during practice times.”
Antonis was feeling the corner three as he went on to hit another one. Antonis quickly got back on defense after making the shot to grab the defensive rebound.
With La Verne struggling to pass the ball around and having to go one-on-one, Chapman was able to build on their lead.
The first half ended with Chapman leading, 31-23.
The second half started with another three-pointer from Antonis. Chapman responded with a layup in the paint.
La Verne tried to get Warren going in the second half after a slow start to the game. Chapman continued to try to slow him down by not letting him drive into the paint. Warren scored a three-pointer off an Antonis’ offensive rebound, which led to an on-the-floor foul to set up the three-pointer.
“Being No. 1 on most teams’ scouts, they are going to try to take me away,” Warren said.
La Verne took an offensive charge. Along with good ball movement, this led to a three-pointer by senior guard Logan Howard to cut the lead down to one.
A defensive rebound by sophomore forward Kailen Green led to a one-on-one opportunity for Antonis. He would go on to hit both free throws for La Verne to take the lead, 42-40.
Off of some turnovers and fouls by La Verne, Chapman retook the lead and went on an 11-0 run, never looking back.
“One possession shouldn’t carry over to the next and I thought that some of our shots that we missed, we carried that over to the defensive end,” head coach Richard Reed said. “We had some silly fouls and some silly things that we hadn’t done that got us the lead or got us back into the game.”
Back-to-back layups from Rook would cut the lead to six. This was not enough for La Verne, as they would lose the game 71-55.
“I was taking what the defense gave me and trying to work hard to get inside,” Rook said. “I wanted to get some rebounds for us and be there when my teammates needed to drop it off to me and ultimately get us back into the game,” Rook said.
La Verne’s top scorers were Antonis with 19 points and Warren with 14 points.
La Verne will play California Miramar at 2 p.m. Saturday at Frantz Athletic Court in the Super Tents.
Justin Ries can be reached at justin.ries@laverne.edu.
Justin Ries is a junior journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism, and is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
Liberty Belle is a senior photography major and marketing minor. She is also the photography editor of the Campus Times. She has previously served as photography editor of La Verne Magazine and a staff photographer for both publications.
