ORANGE, Calif. – From down 18, the Chapman University men's basketball came all the way back for a 76-73 win over UC Santa Cruz. Blakeley Stoughton poured in 17 points in the second half to lead the comeback effort.
It took the Panthers over nine minutes to score a bucket as Jacob Simon came off the bench to score Chapman's first basket with 10:29 left in the first half. The Panthers had scored just five points at the free throw line while shaking off the finals rust.
UCSC took full advantage early on and built a 29-11 lead over the first 15 minutes, shooting over 46 percent in the first half. However, the Panthers flipped the script in the final five minutes as they cut the lead to single digits with a 18-8 run over those last five minutes of the opening half.
Chapman continued the run to open the second half as Murphy Caffo opened the scoring with a putback and Cruz Billings knocked down a three-pointer on the first two possessions. Stoughton followed with another three to tie the game at 37-37 less than two minutes in to completely erase the early deficit.
UCSC responded and opened the lead back up to double digits at the midway point of the second half. Billings capped a quick 10-0 to tie the game again at 55-55 but the Slugs continued to fight back and reclaim the lead.
From then on, it was Stoughton with clutch buckets as he tied up the game at 58-58 with a three-pointer and then dropped in a contested shot at the rim for Chapman's first lead since the opening minutes. He knocked down another go-ahead three-pointer minutes later and capped off his stellar second half with a layup to give Chapman its biggest lead at 69-64 with 4:54 to go.
Billings also had his clutch moments down the stretch, including two free throws in the final minute to push Chapman's lead up to three points before the final possession. Billings ended the game with 14 points while Stoughton led the Panthers with 19. Simon had 10 points off the bench while Jak Heberle scored 14 points with eight rebounds.
The Panthers host next host Oneonta on Friday at 5 p.m.
