PASADENA, Calif. – Liam O'Reilly hit 6 of 7 shots from the field on his way to 14 points, and Sandor Rodriguez added 11 points in 15 minutes of action to spark the Linfield Wildcats to a 76-68 nonconference victory over the La Verne Leopards Tuesday night at the Caltech gymnasium.
 
The Wildcats raised their early season record to 3-0 heading into Wednesday's meeting with Caltech at the La Verne gym. With the loss, La Verne slipped to 0-2.
 
1st Half
La Verne scored the game's first seven points and maintained its lead until Rodriguez converted a layup with 5:51 to play in the opening half to give the Wildcats a 23-21 advantage. The game remained a two-possession contest for the remainder of the half. A layup by Evan Gustafson 38 seconds before intermission put the Leopards in front, 38-35.
 
"We were a little lackluster in the first half, but I give La Verne a lot of credit, they really played a great half," said Wildcats coach Shanan Rosenberg. "Fortunately, our guys rallied each other at the half and played with great energy in the second half."
 
2nd Half
The game continued as a back-and-forth affair until Riley Bruil swished a three-pointer to knot the game at 59 with 6:44 to play. Bruil's bucket began a 13-0 Linfield run that included consecutive baskets by O'Reilly, plus a layup and two free throws from Austin Hilton. The outcome was never in question after that.
  
Stat check
O'Reilly hit all five of his field goal attempts in the second half on the way to team-high scoring honors. Bruil, Hilton, Tyler Watts, Troy Arce and Jordan Clark all finished with eight points. Hilton and Clark controlled the backboards, both nabbing eight rebounds. Watts added six rebounds and a team-best four assists.
 
"Liam played a terrific offensive game. Jordan and Austin really played dominant in the second half - especially defensively," said Rosenberg.
 
Linfield was the better shooting team, .537 to .426, but the La Verne hit eight three-pointers to keep the game close.

The Wildcats maintained a considerable advantage underneath the basket, outscoring the smaller Leopards 42-18 in the paint. The Wildcats also picked up 16 second-chance points compared with four for La Verne.
 
Leopard lines
Victor Costa led the way for La Verne with 19 points on 7 of 14 shooting. He also gathered 13 rebounds and passed out five assists. Connor Head totaled 15 points, three rebounds and two steals.
 
Next
Linfield wraps up its four-game California trip with a game Wednesday afternoon against Caltech.