Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team saw their two game winning streak come to a close Thursday evening as they dropped a 74-66 contest to the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz dropping back to .500 on the season at 5-5.

Whittier shot a season low 40% from the field, which included 35% from three point territory and 57% from the charity stripe.  They trailed 35-23 at the half, which was the lowest offensive output for the season and turned the ball over 17 times, while losing the battle on the boards 44-35. 

After trailing by five in the first three minutes of play, Whittier came back to lead by four 11-7 after back to back three pointers from Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.).  It then became a seesaw battle from that point with two more ties and three lead changes occurring until the Banana Slugs would open the door with an 11-1 run before the half. 

Out of the break, Chris Barnes-Williams (Salt Lake City, UT) came alive pouring in 14 of his team high 16 points helping the Poets outscore UCSC 43-39 in the second half but with 4:29 to play senior center Tyree Landrum (Los Angeles, Calif.) would go to the bench with five fouls, which proved costly in the final minutes as the Poets would fall by eight.

Junior guard Nick Demusis (Mililani, HI) finished the game with 15 points on 6-11 shooting, while Jennings put together an impressive stat line with 13 points on 5-9 shooting to go with six boards, four assists, and a steal.  Before fouling out, Landrum had chipped in with eight points, eight boards, three steals, and four blocks. 

For UCSC, James Townsend finished with a game high 25 points and eight rebounds, while Spencer Wells was the other lone Banana Slug in double figures with 17 points and eight rebounds as well. 

Whittier remains on the road tomorrow, Saturday, January 4 as they take on UC Merced beginning at 2:00pm.