CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Whittier College men's basketball team officially punched its ticket to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament on Wednesday night. The Poets completed the regular season sweep of Pomona-Pitzer with a 76-70 overtime win at Voelkel Gymnasium.

Whittier (15-8, 9-3 SCIAC) was led by David Hayashi who scored a team-high 20 points. Hayashi shot over 63 percent (7-for-11) for the game which includes a 5-for-8 effort from behind the three-point line.

WC totaled four players in double figures as Travis Crow finished with 17 points, Jeff McLean tallied 15 points and Michael Archuletta added 14 points. McLean also grabbed seven rebounds and had three blocked shots.

The Poets led 36-30 at halftime despite seeing Pomona-Pitzer (12-11, 9-3 SCIAC) shoot 50 percent from the field. The purple and gold shot 40 percent in the first half. The Sagehens shot 37 percent in the second half but outscored WC 32-26 to end regulation with the scored tied at 62.

Pomona's Justin Sexton led all scorers with 25 points. He also added 13 rebounds to record the double-double.

Whittier will be joined by Cal Lutheran, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer as the four programs that will compete for the conference championship. All four schools share an identical conference record of 9-3.

The Poets have won 30 SCIAC championships but have not won the conference in nearly 30 years. The last time WC won the conference was in 1981.

Whittier has two games remaining on its schedule as both contests will play a heavy hand in determining the seeds for the conference tournament.

The purple and gold return to the court on Saturday, February 21, for 'PAC the GAC' night. WC will play host to Claremont-M-S at 7:30 p.m.

Photo by: Tony Leon/Action West Photography