Photos by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team overcame an eight point halftime deficit but was unable to hold onto a late lead as they fell 76-64 to the Panthers of Chapman University Wednesday evening at the Graham Athletic Center.

Whittier now drops to 3-4, 1-2 SCIAC, while Chapman improves to 4-5, 2-1 SCIAC. 

After the loss the Poets are now 0-4 against Chapman dating back to the 2008-09 season when they fell 78-70.  Whittier managed to overcome an eight point deficit at the half to take a one point lead at 40-39 after a 14-4 run that was capped off with lay-ins by Chris Barnes-Williams and Phillip Thomas. 

The Purple & Gold managed to extend their lead to six points 51-45 after a layup by Dylan Irwin who added 10 points off the bench but the Panthers answered with back to back three point baskets from Takeshi Clifford and Jordan Young that evened the game up at 51 apiece.  Irwin put the Poets back in front two more times with three free-throws 58-54 but again Chapman added a 10-2 run that put them in front for good 66-60. 

Down the stretch Whittier had opportunities in transition to pull within two but two failed dunk attempts from Barnes-Williams and Tyree Landrum kept the Poets scoreless in a two minute span.  Chapman then came down and connected on eight straight free throws to close out the game, while holding the Poets to just two baskets in the final 2:40.

Barnes-Williams again paced the Poets with a game high 18 points on 8-18 shooting, while Thomas chipped in with 11 on 4-9 shooting.  Willie Mebane in the backcourt gathered seven steals to go with six points.

Chapman finished the game shooting an astounding 71% from the field, which included 58% from deep, while Whittier was held to 43% shooting going 2-17 from three point territory.  CU saw five players reach double figures led by Taylor Hamasaki who finished with 14 points, while Colin Chadwick inside finished with 12 points and five boards.

For the second straight game Whittier lost the battle of the boards 31-23 but gathered 12 steals and forced Chapman to turn the ball over 20 times.

The Poets look to snap their two game losing skid as they look towards a non-conference match-up with West Coast Baptist this Saturday, December 8 with tip-off set for 7:30pm.  The first time these two teams met Whittier was on the losing end of an 88-83 loss on the road.