Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team remains hot at as they earn their third straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Wednesday evening, while picking up their sixth victory in the friendly confines of the Graham Athletic Center earning an 86-75 victory over Redlands.
With the win, the Poets move into 3rd place in the SCIAC standings and improve to 10-6, 4-3 SCIAC, while Redlands drops to 7-9, 3-4 SCIAC.
Heading into tonight's contest both Redlands and Whittier were tied in 4th Place with UR holding the edge after defeating the Purple & Gold back on December 7 90-64. But this time around, Whittier had All-SCIAC center Tyree Landrum (Los Angeles, Calif.) back inside the paint who finished with a double double with 10 points and 11 boards.
Whittier used a big second half en route to the 11 point victory getting four players to post double figures led by Nick Demusis (Mililani, HI) who tossed in a double double with a game high 31 points on 11-19 shooting, while collecting 11 boards.
The Poets jumped out in front quickly 13-6 with an early 8-0 run. After back to back three pointers from Aljosa Bjekovic and Ricky Peetz the Bulldogs pulled within one 13-12 before regaining the lead with a Bjekovic layup at the 11:45 mark.
WC stormed back in front 26-21 after a tre from Chris Barnes-Williams (Salt Lake City, UT) and a layin from Demusis but once again UR responded with seven unanswered to take the lead 28-26, before knocking down a last second three pointer right before the break to push their lead to 36-32.
Out of the half, Redlands extended their lead to seven, which was their largest lead of the contest but then went cold from the field over the next three minutes, while Whittier went on a 15-0 run capped off with back to back to back three pointers from Demusis that brought the Poet faithful to their feet and the Poets a 61-53 lead.
Eric Radford kept the Bulldogs in striking distance knocking down three shots within a 50 second window that pulled UR within six. Then with under two minutes remaining Redlands made one final push cutting a ten point deficit to 80-73 but after that they went cold, allowing Whittier to come away with the home victory.
Whittier shot 44% from the field and 32% from behind the three-point line. They held a slight 47-45 advantage on the glass and turned the ball over just 11 times, while forcing 22.
Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) finished with 10 points, while Barnes-Williams collected 17. For Redlands, Bjekovic totaled a team high 24 points and 11 boards on 10-21 shooting, while Alex Rudd came off the bench for 20 points. Then Radford and Peetz finished with 16 and 14 points, each respectively.
Whittier remains at home this Saturday, January 25 when they host Cal Lutheran University beginning at 5:00pm.
