Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – In front of a fan base of almost 600 strong the Whittier College Poets knocked off the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer 61-58 Wednesday evening on Dave Jacobs Court keeping their playoff hunt alive.   

This marks the first time Whittier has beaten the Blue and Orange since the 2010-11 season when the Poets won their final regular season matchup 66-53 on February 5, 2011.  The win this evening for the Poets avenges three losses from 2011-12 which includes a 60-53 loss in the SCIAC Post Season Tournament. 

Whittier now improves to 7-9, 3-4 SCIAC, while Pomona-Pitzer drops to 10-5, 5-2 SCIAC. 

With three players reaching double figures on the evening led by junior Tyree Landrum's game high 17 points on 6-9 shooting, the Purple & Gold proved that they are a team seeking playoff contention after they pulled off the biggest win of the season.

Landrum started the game off with an emphatic dunk and gave the Poets two leads under four minutes to play, which included a two handed jam and two free throws that ultimately propelled the Poets to the upset victory.

After trailing early in the first half 5-2, Whittier went on an 8-2 run that gave them their first lead of the contest 8-7 and a lead they would not relinquish until the 3:23 mark when the Sagehens rattled off seven unanswered.  But with the final seconds ticking away, Phillip Thomas came down and put up two that gave WC a 26-25 lead going into the half.

Coming out of intermission, Pomona regained the lead after a Xavyr Moss jumper and then extended their lead to three after a Donald Okpalugo free throw but that's the largest lead they could gather because Whittier answered with a 7-1 run that gave them a three point lead 39-36 capped off with two free throws and a tre from Jacob Porter.

But on the other end, Pomona answered with a three ball from Kyle McAndrews that tied the game up at 39-39 before the Poets again went on a run scoring five straight that gave them a five point lead.  But PP didn't go away and evened the score once again at 46-46 after a Michael Cohen three ball and then took a lead 48-46 after two free throws from John Weiss with 7:07 to play.

Pomona extended their lead to 53-48 with 4:42 to play but the Poets didn't go away quietly and put together one last run getting a straight on three from Thomas, a layin from Porter and a dunk from Landrum that put Whittier back in front 55-53 with 2:22 to play.

After Cohen knocked down two free throws on the other end to even the game up, the game saw nine straight free throws occur with four straight coming from Chris Barnes-Williams with 13 seconds to play who knocked down the game tying and go ahead points that proved to be all the Poets needed to secure the 61-58 victory.

Whittier saw Thomas and Willie Mebane finish with ten points apiece, while Thomas hauled in a team high five boards.  For Pomona-Pitzer, McAndrews finished with 15 points on 5-14 shooting, while Cohen and Moss had 13 points apiece. 

The Poets who saw one of their lowest turnover performances of the season with 14 proved to be too much for the Sagehens inside as Whittier tallied 30 points in the paint to Pomona's 12. 

Whittier wraps up the first round of SCIAC games as they travel into Los Angeles, Calif. to take on the Tigers of Occidental College this Saturday, January 19 with tip-off set for 7:00pm.