Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. - Whittier College ended a four game losing streak behind the combined efforts of Drew Menez and David Hayashi who scored 27 points a piece to lead the Poets to a 99-84 win over La Sierra on Saturday night at the annual Purple & Gold Classic.

Hayashi scored 15 of his points from behind the three-point line on 5-of-8 shooting while Menez finished the contest a perfect 2-for-2 from deep and shot 11-of-18 from the field.

The Poets (5-4) wasted little time jumping on the Golden Eagles (3-11) as they build an early 10-point lead less than four minutes into the game.

Whittier went on a 27-12 run over the next 10 minutes of the ball game to take a 43-18 and led by as many as 30 points with less than one minute to play in the half. The Poets went into the break with a 56-29 lead.

WC's consistently held a 20 points advantage during the second half but a late run by La Sierra pulled the Golden Eagles within 13 with 2:05 to play. Miles Robbins connected on three consecutive three pointers to make the score 96-83 but that was as close as LSU would get.

Whittier scored the final bucket of the game with 1:44 left and held on for the 15-point win.

Josh Deanne returned to the lineup for the first time since December 5 and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Jonathan Saucedo and Karlo Galvez had a game-high five assists while Zach Corns chipped in with seven points and six rebounds off the bench.

The purple and gold outscored La Sierra 54-26 in the paint and 26-6 on fast break points.

The game featured a combined 60 fouls, 72 foul shots and four foul outs. The Poets' could have reached the 100-point plateau for the second time this season if not for the team's 14-of-34 night from the charity stripe.

Whittier returns to action tomorrow night to face Northland at 8 pm.

In other action during Day 1 of the Purple & Gold Classic, Northland defeated Southwestern (Ariz.), 81-77, and on the women's side, St. Joseph's (N.Y.) beat La Sierra, 66-58.