Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestphotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team improved to 5-4 the first time being over .500 since early December after they came from behind Monday evening to beat Pacifica College 79-71 to wrap up the Purple & Gold Poet Classic.
Whittier has now won their second straight game and have two more non-conference opponents looming in the distance this weekend against UC Santa Cruz (January 2 @7:00pm) and UC Merced (January 4 @ 2:00pm) before returning to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at home on January 8 against Occidental at 7:30pm.
Pacifica played with only five players Monday evening with all five tallying double digit scoring efforts. They held a halftime lead 40-36 after a back and forth first half, despite Whittier holding an early 10-2 advantage. The Gladiators bounced back however beginning at the 17:01 mark when they went on an 11-0 run in a two minute span that pulled them in front 16-14.
Whittier would tie the game up twice more and would take another lead from that point but after back to back three pointers from Horace Nguyen and two jumpers from Alex Mendiola the Gladiators would regain a lead 32-26 holding a four point lead at the break.
The Purple & Gold came out strong in the second half outscoring Pacifica 43-31 getting 12 and 11 points from Nick Demusis (Miliani, HI) and Chris Barnes-Williams (Salt Lake City, UT) that spearheaded a 49% shooting performance. The Poets trailed 50-47 at the 14:30 mark before a 9-2 run put WC back in front 56-52, a lead they wouldn't relinquish as they would hold on for the eight point victory.
The Poets shot 80% from the charity stripe, a season high, while shooting 47% from the field. They held the advantage on the glass 53-32 and turned 21 turnovers into 18 points.
Demusis finished with a game high 22 points on 10-15 shooting with seven boards, while Barnes-Williams tallied a double double with 16 points and 12 boards. Off the bench,
Jacob Porter (Temecula, Calif.) chipped in with 11 points, while
Michael Alvarez (Long Beach, Calif.) played a pivotal role finishing perfect from the field 5-5 for 10 points and three assists.
Jerome Francis for Pacifica finished with a team high 18 points on 8-12 shooting, while Rafael Morelos was strong inside with 17 points and seven boards. Nguyen had 15 points with twelve of them coming on three pointers, while Mendiola and Jon Garnica had 11 and 10 points, each respectively.
