Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

HONOLULU, Hi. – The Whittier College men's basketball team split over the weekend during the Surfs Up Classic dropping an overtime thriller to Pacific (Ore.) 74-72 but beating George Fox by one 80-79 to improve to .500 on the season. 

Game 1 (Pacific, L, 74-72 in OT)

In the first game of the Surfs Up Classic, Whittier saw Coby Proctor for Pacific toss in a layup and a free throw in the final 30 seconds of overtime that secured the victory for the Boxers 74-72.  Whittier tried to stay close with a layin with 10 seconds remaining in the contest but a Proctor free throw secured the win after Phillip Thomas' three pointer fell short in the final seconds.

The story started off rough for the Boxers as the Poets held the team scoreless over the first seven minutes, with Whittier opening up a 9-0 lead on Dylan Irwin' free throw at the 13:39 mark.  Daniel Zitani's three-pointer with 10:25 left cut the lead to 13-8 before the Poets went on a 14-5 run over the next six minutes. Thomas canned two free throws with 3:55 to build the 28-14 lead, but Brakebush's trey just a minute later cut the edge back to six points before the Poets went into halftime with a 32-24 advantage.

Whittier opened the lead up to double digits in the second half, going ahead by 12 on Willie Mebane's short jumper a minute into the stanza.  The advantage was 11 points when Brakebush's three-pointer started an 8-0 run that brought the Boxers within 42-39 on another Brakebush trey with 14:16 to go.

The Poets led by as much as eight points after that before the Boxers came back and took their first lead of the game, 53-51, on Bowser's five-footer with 5:48 to go.  The lead seesawed back and forth before Mosley's free throw with 25 seconds left gave the Boxers a 64-61 lead.  With the last possession of regulation after two missed Wester free throws, Thomas drained a three-pointer with four seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Neither team led by as many as two points in the overtime period before Proctor's lay-in sealed the victory in the final thirty seconds for the Boxers.   

Chris Barnes-Williams led Whittier (1-2) with 21 points and eight rebounds.  Thomas added 15 points and six assists while Aaron Fernandez finished with 11 points.  The Poets finished shooting 35.1 percent from the field (26-74).

Brakenbush finished with 21 points off the bench, while Bowser finished with a double double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.  For the game, Whittier was outrebounded 66-45, with the Boxers hauling in 30 offensive rebounds. 

Game 2 (George Fox, W, 80-79)

The second game of the Surfs Up Classic proved to be just as exciting as the first as the Purple & Gold held on for a one point victory 80-79 over the Bruins of George Fox University.  Whittier finished 50% shooting but finished strongly from the charity stripe going 11-14 for 79%, a season high. 

The Bruins came out of the gates quickly on a 13-0 run to race to a 15-4 lead and then went in front by 13 once more at the 14:36 mark in the first half.  But it was all Whittier from there sparked by an Irwin layup that ignited a three ball from Thomas and back to back baskets from Jacob Porter that pulled the Poets within one at 31-30 with six minutes to play.  Despite not having a lead in the first half, Whittier managed to stay within one going into the break after a Porter three pointer in the final seconds.

Opening up the second half, Porter continued his hot hand tossing in 16 points on 7-9 shooting including a pair of threes.  Seth Brent opened up the scoring in the second half for the Bruins with a layup but saw the Purple & Gold open up a 9-0 run, which included two baskets from Tyree Landrum and a three ball from Williams, which gave Whittier their largest lead of the evening 54-48 with 16:31 to play. 

Over a five minute span the Bruins outscored the Poets 15-8 regaining a one point lead 67-66 capped off with a tre from Spencer Bolte at the 7:22 mark.  With George Fox holding a 73-72 lead, Barnes-Williams knocked down a three ball that gave the Poets a 75-73 lead with 1:34 to play, but 17 seconds later, A.J. Grant answered with a three ball of his own only to see Barnes-Williams drain another three with 55 seconds to play to give Whittier back a lead. 

The Bruins Jason Martin knocked in the go ahead trey with 40 seconds to play that gave George Fox their final lead on the afternoon.  After a missed go ahead jumper from Thomas, he got his own rebound setting the Poets up with one last opportunity to pull off the victory.   Mebane got inside for a layup off a pass from Barnes-Williams with six ticks left, leaving the Bruins with one last chance, but Atkins misfired with two seconds to go helping Whittier escape with the one point victory.

Porter paced the Poets with 17 points, followed by Barnes-Williams with 15, Mebane with 12, and Thomas with 10.  Porter had eight rebounds as the Poets held a slim 37-36 edge on the boards.  Thomas handed out five assists, and Fernandez grabbed three steals.

Whittier opens up conference action this week when they host the Leopards of the University of La Verne, Wednesday, November 28 with tip-off set for 7:30pm.