Chapman Can’t Get Off Last Shot in 66-65 Defeat

ORANGE — Chapman College put itself out of its own misery without firing a shot Saturday night.

Trailing Cal Poly Pomona by one point with five seconds remaining, Chris Martin took an inbound pass, dribbled the length of the court, but couldn’t manage a shot against a pressing defense and the Panthers wound up losing, 66-65, in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. game at the Hutton Center.

With the victory, Pomona (9-18 and 3-11 in conference) finished the season tied with Chapman (11-16, 3-11) for last place in the CCAA.

“I think that our inconsistency of play--quite good at times and very poor at other times--is the reason we couldn’t win that game,” Chapman Coach Bob Boyd said.

Chapman shot 36.4% from the field, had 13 turnovers and trailed by six at halftime. And it appeared that the Panthers were ready to continue that way at the start of the second half.

Chapman missed its first five shots from the field and the Broncos improved their lead to 15 with 16 minutes 25 seconds left.

However, the Panthers turned the game around and after going on a 12-0 run, took the lead, 54-52, on a three-point basket by Andre Hill with 7:17 remaining.

The Panthers twice held three-point leads but couldn’t shake the Broncos, who regained the lead at 64-63 when Terry Ross scored following an offensive rebound with 2:30 left.

Hill made two free throws to put Chapman ahead by one with 1:50 left. With 1:16 left, Andrew Bojarski scored to give the Broncos a 66-65 lead.

From the beginning little went right for the Panthers, who turned the ball over on four of their first six possessions. Taking advantage, Pomona built a 9-6 lead before the Broncos made four consecutive baskets and led, 17-6, with 11:30 left in the half.

Chapman battled back and closed within four points before Ross scored on a dunk in the last seconds of the half.

Rog Middleton had 21 for Chapman. Middleton, a sophomore, finished the season with 550 points, moving him past Tom Cooke (547 in 1959-60) into third place on the Panthers’ single-season scoring list.