ORANGE, Calif. – Blakeley Stoughton matched his career-high with 26 points to lead the Chapman University men's basketball team to an 85-77 win over Redlands on Monday. The Panthers won their third straight game to improve to 10-6 on the season and 43 in the SCIAC.
McKelary Robertson scored 20 points to go along with four assists and Jake Heberle had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds while tying a Chapman single game record. Heberle's 14 made free throws match Chapman's single game record set by Chad Bigler in 2003 and Kyle Wood in 2009.
The Panthers found themselves trailing for much of the first half but tied the game at 40-40 on a pair of Murphy Caffo free throws with 3:21 left in the half. After Stoughton drew a foul on the Panthers' next possession, Redlands' head coach was given two technical fouls, resulting in four more Panther free throws. Heberle and Stoughton combined to hit all six free throws in the sequence to take a 46-40 lead.
The Bulldogs were hit with their fourth technical of the opening half just 14 seconds later, after dropping in a layup, to put the Panther lead back to six. With momentum swung in their favor, Chapman led by nine by halftime and never trailed again.
Stoughton scored 14 of his 26 as he took over in the second half, including a dunk that ended a 9-0 Redlands' run early in the half and another electrifying dunk that increased the Chapman lead to nine and brought the crowd to its feet.
The Panthers withstood the Bulldogs quickly making a run to get back within two points in the opening minutes of the second half and another 10-0 run that tied the game at 69-69 with 4:48 left. A three-pointer from Heberle and a strong bucket in the paint from Andrew Ingalls put the lead back to five and the Panthers were able to hold off Redlands for a crucial SCIAC victory.
Chapman overcame 23 turnovers to get the victory, sinking 23-of-31 free throws and shooting 49.1 percent on the night.
The Panthers are on the road for their next two games, starting with Whittier on Saturday, and return home on Jan. 27 when they face Cal Lutheran at 2 p.m.
