LA VERNE, Calif. — Leading only after their first and last baskets of the game, the La Verne Leopards stole a 68-67 win over Pacific in non-conference men's basketball action on Sunday afternoon at the Sports Pavilion.

The Boxers dropped a pair of weekend games in southern California and will now head into next weekend's Northwest Conference openers with a 3-3 overall record. With the buzzer beater, La Verne improves to 2-3 on the season.

Hakim Arnold nailed a three-pointer deep from the left side of the court, right in front of the Leopard bench as time expired to cap an unlikely La Verne comeback. The trey gave the Leopords their first lead since the opening moments of the game and also sent Arnold's teammates the short distance to the court to dog pile the hero.

Just moments earlier, it looked as though the Boxers, who controlled the contest throughout, would leave Los Angeles with a win. Pacific led 54-40 with 12:06 left after a DeVon Pouncey basket and they would still be ahead on the scoreboard 66-59 with 5:14 remaining after a K.C. Harrison lay-up.

But that would be the last field goal of the day for the Boxers as the Leopards slowly crept back into the fray. Khaneal Mason's driving lay-up with 37 seconds on the clock cut the PU lead to 67-65. The Boxers then burnt as much shot clock as possible before a three-point attempt by Michael Garcia missed with seven seconds left. Kendall McClain grabbed the rebound, passed ahead to Arnold who pulled up and fired just ahead of the buzzer.

It was Arnold's only three-point attempt of the night. He led his team with 16 points and seven rebounds.

La Verne scored first in the contest and it took the visitors three minutes to get on the board. But when Bobby Ahern's three-pointer at 17:00 gave Pacific a 3-2 lead, they would't trail again until the final basket.

Pacific led by as much as seven points twice in the first half before heading into the locker room with a 35-29 margin.

Pouncey led all scorers with 17 points. Skyler Burgess added 14 counters, Michael Joseph had 11 points and nine rebounds and Ahern was in double figures with 10 digits.

The Boxers out-rebounded the Leopards 42-35 but the visitors shot only 43 percent from the field and were just 2 of 12 from beyond the arch.

Pacific will open league play this Friday and Saturday, hosting Willamette on Friday (8 p.m.) and George Fox on Saturday (6 p.m.) at the Stoller Center.