Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team needed overtime for the second straight game to earn a key Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) victory Saturday evening as they held on for the 91-86 win over Occidental College at Rush Gymnasium.
The win marks the third straight victory for the Purple & Gold and their second consecutive win on the road as they improve to 11-5, 5-2 SCIAC moving up into 3rd Place in the SCIAC Standings. Oxy now drops to 8-7, 4-3 SCIAC.
Whittier came into Saturday's match-up tied for 3rd Place with Oxy in the SCIAC Standings.
After trading leads four times early in the game the Tigers jumped out in front by nine with 10:12 remaining in the half. The Poets cut the deficit to three following a pair of free throws from Nick Demusis (Mililani, HI) and an Andrew Bucholtz (Lone Tree, CO) layup and would pull within two 31-29 following a Demusis three pointer.
Oxy would increase the lead back to seven with fifty seconds remaining in the half and despite a layup and free throw by Demusis, the Tigers' Spencer Levy would knock down a jumper as time expired that gave Occidental the 41-35 lead at the break.
Out of intermission Oxy would put together a 9-0 run in the first minute capped off with an Andrew Johnson dunk. This would increase the Tiger lead to 15 but it would soon be short-lived as the Purple & Gold would storm back putting together runs of 7-2 and 10-2 that helped them pull within two 57-55.
Five unanswered by the Tigers would extend their lead to 62-55 but five minutes later Demusis would again knock down a huge triple that pulled the Poets again within two 70-68.
Again the deficit became seven 76-69 in favor of Oxy but an ensuing 8-1 run by the Poets over the final 5:50 would propel them to their second straight overtime game.
With only 27 seconds left in the second half, Bucholtz drove to the rim and laid in the game tying basket to even the score 77-77. The Tigers had an opportunity to win the game in regulation but an attempt by Johnson went off the mark.
The Tigers took the first lead of the extra period with Juwan Rice netting a contested shot at the rim. Whittier's Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) responded on the following possession tying the game with a jump shot from the top of the key.
On the other end of the court, Andrew Garrison for the Tigers grabbed an offensive board, was fouled on the put back, and made his free throw to finish the three-point play. A layup by Johnson put Oxy up by three a minute later. But with 47 seconds remaining, Bucholtz would knock down a three-pointer to put Whittier back up by two, which sealed the victory for the Poets.
Demusis again led the offensive unit finishing with a team high 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting along with eight boards and two assists. Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) chipped in with an impressive stat line off the bench with 19 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals, while Jennings and Bucholtz had 17 and 11 points, each respectively.
Whittier returns home this week as they host Cal Lutheran University on Tuesday, January 27 beginning at 7:30pm before hosting Claremont-M-S on Saturday, January 31 at 7:00pm.
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