Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team extended their winning streak to five games Wednesday evening as they held off the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University 56-55 to wrap up the regular season series with CLU tied.

Whittier now improves to 10-9, 6-4 SCIAC, while Cal Lutheran drops to 8-12, 4-7 SCIAC. 

The Poets now sit tied in fourth place in the SCIAC standings with Chapman University with a head to head matchup against Redlands sitting on the Horizon, this Saturday, February 2. 

The previous time these two teams met, Whittier was on the opposite end of a 57-43 loss at home back on January 9.  This time around Whittier avenged their loss thanks to a game high 19 point effort from senior captain Willie Mebane who also chipped in with two assists, two steals, and two rebounds.

In a game that saw 14 lead changes and CLU hold a lead 55-54 with 37 seconds to play after Jeremy Sulker-Hall knocked down the go ahead three pointer, the Purple & Gold stood strong on their final possession as Mebane came down in transition and found Tyree Landrum in the paint who connected on a jumper despite being contested by two Kingsmen defenders.  This would put Whittier up by one with 24 seconds left to play.

The Kingsmen saw two looks for the game winner including a three pointer from Jayvaughn Nettles and a Martin Flowers jumper, but the Poets were able to haul in the final rebound to escape with the one point victory. 

After leading 35-34, CLU went on a 9-2 run that put the Kingsmen up 45-37 with 11 minutes to go.  But over the next six minutes, Whittier held Cal Lutheran scoreless, while going on an 11-0 run capped off with Eric Jennings and Aaron Fernandez knocking down three pointers that gave WC a 48-45 lead.

With two minutes to play, Cal Lutheran mounted their comeback that cut the Poet lead to two 52-50 but after a Whittier bucket, Sulker-Hall would add four unanswered to even the game up at 54-54.

Eric Goedde had his breakout performance of the season chipping in with 10 points shooting 100% from the field, while Phillip Thomas finished with seven points, five boards, and four assists. 

For Cal Lutheran, Sulker-Hall had 14 points, while Corey Quintana chipped in with a double double with 10 points and 11 boards. 

Whittier returns to action this Saturday, February 2 when they host the Bulldogs of the University of Redlands at 7:00pm.