Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team couldn't hold off the Leopards of the University of La Verne Wednesday evening as they fell 74-64 at the Graham Athletic Center moving their losing skid to five games.

With the loss the Poets drop to 10-11, 4-8 SCIAC, while La Verne improves to 10-12, 7-6 SCIAC.

It was a tale of two halves as the Poets held onto a 35-29 halftime lead before the Leos would come out for a big second half outscoring the Purple & Gold 45-29 and holding them to just 34& shooting en route to the ten point victory.

Whittier jumped out quickly to a 7-0 lead capped off with a three pointer from Chris Barnes-Williams (Salt Lake City, UT).  But LV came back to tie the game up four more times and take their first lead of the game at the 6:13 mark 22-21 in the half before the Poets would use an 8-2 run with three layins from Nick Demusis (Mililani, HI), Jacob Porter (Temecula, Calif.), and Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) to go ahead by six at the break.

Whittier extended the lead to doubled digits out of the half 39-29 with two free throws and a layup from Jennings but LV rallied back midway through the frame with six points coming from Hakim Arnold to pull within one 51-50 before scoring 14 unanswered over the next three and a half minutes that put the game out of reach.

Whittier saw three players record double figures led by Demusis with 14.  He was joined by Jennings with 13 who also had four rebounds and five assists, and Porter who finished with 10 on 5-8 shooting.  Tyree Landrum (Los Angeles, Calif.) missed another double double by one point as he finished with nine points and 13 boards.

For La Verne, Weston Newell finished with a game high 17 points on 5-7 shooting, while Ronn See had 15 on 5-10 shooting and seven assists.  Karl Reyes finished with 11, while Arnold off the bench had 11 points.

Whittier looks to snap their losing skid as they travel to Occidental College this Saturday, February 15 with game time set for 5:00pm.