CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College men's water polo team will play for the SCIAC Tournament Championships on Sunday afternoon after it defeated No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer, 8-5, in the semifinals on Saturday evening.

Whittier erased a 4-3 halftime deficit and used strong defense to down the second seeded Sagehens.

The Poets allowed just one second half goal and outscored Pomona-Pitzer 5-1 over the final 16 minutes of the game.

Cameron Rehm tied the score at 4-4 at the 6:55 mark of the third quarter, Rilesh Desai put the Poets in front at the 5:03 mark and Chet Schuster scored the eventual game winner in the Whittier's comeback win.

Desai started the fourth stanza with a goal at 5:19 before Pomona-Pitzer ended the 4-0 WC run.

Erick Gonzalez tacked on the last bit of insurance as time expired.

With the win, the Poets will face fourth seeded Claremont-M-S in the tournament championship.

Desai scored three goals and had a pair of steals. Rehm added a pair of goals and Gonzalez handed out three assists.

Pomona-Pitzer scored first at 6:56 of the first quarter but the Poets scored at 2:09 and with one second left in the quarter to lead 2-1 after one.

Desai ended a 2-0 Sagehen run with his second quarter goal at 2:12.

Game time for tomorrow's championships is 2:30 pm.