Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team dropped their seventh straight game Wednesday night as they dropped a 68-56 decision to the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University helping CLU clinch a SCIAC Post Season Berth for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

Whittier went out in front 8-5 and then 12-7 but saw Cal Lutheran score on seven of their next eight possessions, while putting together a 10-2 run midway through the frame helping them take a 31-20 lead into the break.

Whittier was outscored 11-0 off of turnovers in the first half and was held scoreless in the final 3:28 of the period being held to a mere 8-31 shooting (25.8 percent), which included going 1-8 from behind the three point line.

Out of intermission, Cal Lutheran opened with a 17-5 run extending the lead to 16 at 40-24.  The lead would get to 20 with 13:00 to play but the Poets would force eight turnovers in the final 10 minutes pulling within 12 at 54-24.  But CLU answered with a Coltrane Powdrill tip-in and back to back three pointers from Michael Palmer that extended the lead back to 17.

The Poets were led by Nick Demusis (Mililani, HI) who finished with 15 points on 6-14 shooting along with eight boards, while Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) chipped in with 14 to go with five rebounds, two assists, and one block.  Tyree Landrum (Los Angeles, Calif.) despite not hitting double digits finished with a strong stat line with seven points, nine boards, two assists, three steals, and two blocks.

For Cal Lutheran, Arik Smith tossed in a game high 19 points with Palmer chipping in with 16 on 5-9 shooting, while John Green finished with 11 points off the bench. 

Whittier returns home for their final two regular season games.  They host Caltech this Saturday, February 22 at 5:00pm during PAC the GAC, and then come back next week on Tuesday, February 25 to host Claremont-M-S at 7:30pm on Senior Night.