Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – For the first time during the 2012-13 season the Whittier College men's basketball team has hit the 100 point plateau as they rolled past the Tigers of Occidental College Saturday evening 103-76 at Rush Gymnasium. 

Whittier continues to keep their playoff hunt alive as they win their third straight SCIAC contest running their record to 8-9, 4-4 SCIAC.  Occidental now drops to 5-9, 0-5 SCIAC. 

This marks the first time the Whittier men's basketball team has scored at least 100 points in a contest dating back to last season when the Poets hit this mark five times with the last coming on January 28, 2012 against Caltech. 

The Purple & Gold saw four players reach double figures led by junior transfer Aaron Fernandez who poured in 30 points off the bench on 11-15 shooting, while going 7-11 from downtown.  This was a game and season high for Fernandez.

Despite seeing Oxy's Kris Montoya chip in with a team high 25 points on 7-13 shooting, Whittier was able to hold the advantage in rebounds (42-29), points off turnovers (38-20), second chance points (20-7), and points in the paint (58-42). 

Being down 20-16 at the halfway mark in the first half and then be trailing 24-19 at the 8:48 mark, Whittier began their comeback going on an 11-2 run that gave the Poets their second lead of the contest 28-26.  On the ensuing possession Oxy's Montoya knocked down a three ball that gave the Tigers a one point lead and it was added to by a Ryan Chong three ball but the Purple & Gold stayed in the game, grabbing their third and final lead of the game with 5:33 to play in the first half sparked by a Willie Mebane layin who finished with 15 points on 7-14 shooting to go with seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals. 

Once Whittier regained this lead it was all Poets from there as they used a 13-2 run to extend their lead to 47-37 before Fernandez knocked down back to back three pointers to close out the half giving Whittier a 53-40 halftime lead. 

The Tigers attempted early to chip back into the Poet lead with baskets from Eric Leider and David Yetenikyan but another 11-2 run gave the Poets a 19 point advantage and from there Chris Barnes-Williams took over pouring in 14 of his 24 points on the day putting the game out of reach as the Poets extended a lead as much as 32 points late in the half helping to propel the Poets to the lopsided victory.  

On the day Whittier shot 53% from the field and 46% from deep, both season highs and saw a 12 assist effort from Phillip Thomas and a 14 point performance from Tyree Landrum.

The Poets return to the court next Saturday, January 26 to open up the second round of SCIAC contests when they host the Stags of Claremont-M-S beginning at 7:00pm.