Zitani Comes Up Big Again As Boxers Sweep So Cal Road Trip

Zitani Comes Up Big Again As Boxers Sweep So Cal Road Trip

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Box Score

LOS ANGELES – Daniel Zitani (Sr., Oakland, Calif.) came up big again for Pacific Tuesday night, registering his fourth double-double of the season and making a big block to allow the Boxers a 71-70 overtime victory over Occidental in men's basketball action at Rush Gymnasium.
 
Zitani, the reigning Northwest Conference Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week and member of the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week, scored 23 points to go along with 12 rebounds.  He also followed three game-tying free throws by Jordan Batey (Jr., San Antonio, Calif.) with a swat of the potential game-winning lay-in as time expired in regulation.
 
Riley Grandinetti (Jr., West Jordan, Utah) added 17 points, which included five three-pointers.  Budweiser Hawkins (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.) came off the bench to score 10 as the Boxers (6-2) shot 41 percent from the field (25-61) and a solid 14 of 17 from the free throw line.
 
Spencer Levy led Occidental (3-3) with 23 points on 7 of 17 from the field while Kris Montoya added 20 points.  The Tigers finished shooting 42.4 percent from the field (25-59) and 43.8 percent from three-point range (7-16), but managed just 1 of 7 from the field in the overtime period.
 
With the win, Pacific extended their win streak to five games, which is the team's longest since a six-game streak during the 1999-2000 season.  It also gives the Boxers a 4-1 record against schools from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SCIAC) this season.
 
The Tigers, though, came out of the gate poised to keep the Boxers from either mile marker as they jumped out to a 22-14 lead midway through the first half on a fastbreak layup by Ty Cobb (the great grandson of the legendary baseball player). 
 
Pacific used back-to-back baskets by Hawkins and Wettig come cut the deficit to four points with 7:12 to go, but Occidental would extend the margin to nine points, 36-27, on Cobb' lay-up with 1:27 left in the period.  Pacific responded by scoring the first five points of the half, four from Zitani, to go into the locker room trailing 36-32.
 
The Boxers opened the second half by taking the lead on a Grandinetti three-pointer and two Hawkins free throws and eventually extended their advantage to four points on another Grandinetti three at the 13:57 mark.  The teams would trade leads four times over the next 12 minutes before the Tigers found themselves up 65-62 on a pair of Montoya free throws.
 
Occidental appeared to have the game wrapped up before Cobb fouled Batey on a three-point attempt with seven seconds to go.  Batey nailed all three free throws and Zitani blocked away Andrew Johnson's lay-up attempt as time expired to force overtime.
 
Pacific scored the first four points of the extra period, with Hawkins scoring all four.  The Tigers used a pair of Montoya free throws to come within one with 1:03 to go.  After a Cobb steal, the Tigers had two good looks at the basket to win it, but could not convert.
 
The game was the fifth ever meeting between Pacific and Occidental in men's basketball and the teams' first meeting since the 1991-92 season.
 
Pacific will take a few days off for Christmas Break and return to the floor at home on Sun., Dec. 29, hosting UC Santa Cruz in their final non-conference game of the season.  Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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