Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team for the third time this season have lost to the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer 60-53 exiting the SCIAC Post Season Tournament in the semi-finals for the second time in four years.

Whittier wraps up their 2011-12 season 18-8, 10-4 SCIAC, while Pomona Pitzer improves to 16-9, 10-4 advancing to the SCIAC Championship Game against the No. 11 Stags of Claremont-M-S beginning at 7:30pm.

After an early basket by the Sagehens, Whittier jumped out in front 7-2 and held Pomona scoreless over an eight minute span and then erupted for a 20-6 run that brought the Poets to the 3:23 mark in the first half up 20-8, at which point Pomona-Pitzer was just 2-20 from the floor due to Whittier's stifling defense.

But the Sagehens came back and answered with a 10-0 run in the final minutes of the half to cut the lead to two but senior Kelly Johnson answered right back with a three pointer at the buzzer to extend the Poet lead to five going into the break 23-18.

Coming out of the break, Pomona's Kyle McAndrews opened up scoring with a 5-0 run to tie the game up at 23-23 and two possessions later he drained another three to help the Sagehens gain a 28-26 lead their first lead of the contest.

After the Sagehens extended their lead to 35-28, the Poets answered with a 9-0 run of their own to again take the lead 37-35 sparked by senior Jordan Ramos who notched back to back steals, which led to the go ahead basket from Greg Preer with 9:14 to go.  Preer finished tonight's contest with seven points on 3-of-11 shooting and grabbed six rebounds, while Ramos came off the bench to finish with eight points and four steals. 

But the Whittier lead was again short lived as Michael Cohen answered with back to back jumpers to again help Pomona take a 43-39 lead helping to shift the momentum in their favor late in the game. 

Senior Drew Menez who has averaged over 16 ppg this season, picked up his fourth foul on the first possession of the second half and had to sit for 10 minutes but came back in to score five straight points to put the Poets back in front 44-43.

Jake Klewer then answered for the Sagehens, but Menez hit another baseline jumper to put Poets in front 46-45. Jack Klukas then knocked down a three-pointer off a Cohen feed to make it 48-46, but again Menez scored to tie the score up at 48-48 with 3:05 left, capping off a stretch in which he scored nine straight.

But late McAndrews came through once again for Pomona-Pitzer and knocked down two pressure filled foul shots to give Pomona-Pitzer a 50-48 lead with 2:38 left.  After a Klukas rebound, McAndrews then came down and knocked down another three pointer to extend the lead to 53-48 and after two Whittier foul shots Pomona hauled in two offensive rebounds down the stretch that helped preserve the seven point lead. 

Menez led Whittier with 16 points, and for the first time this season no other player reached double figures as the Poets finished going 20-62 from the field for 32%. In the two regular season matchups between Pomona and Whittier, Whittier shot just 4-41 from three-point territory combined and this evening they shot 4-21 for 19%. 

The Championship Game is set for tomorrow evening, Saturday, February 25 beginning at 7:30pm at Ted Ducey Gymnasium on the campus of Claremont-M-S where the No. 1 seeded Stags will take on the No. 2 seeded Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer for the third time this season after they split in the regular season with both contests coming by a one point margin.

Head Coach Rock Carter looks to recruit strongly for next season as he loses seven seniors to graduation in Menez, Preer, Brandon Thomas, Ramos, Johnson, Bo Rodriguez, and Nathaniel Easterman.  But he brings back Willie Mebane, Tyree Landrum, and Jacob Porter for the 2012-13 season.