Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's basketball team had upset brewing in their minds Saturday night as they pulled within four under two minutes to play against the Stags of Claremont-M-S who came into the match-up ranked second in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings. 

Despite the late comeback the Poets were unable to pull any closer as they would fall 76-70 in the Graham Athletic Center to drop to 11-7, 5-4 SCIAC.

The Poets matched up with the Stags all night and despite giving up the 10-2 run over the final 3:32 in the first half they played great basketball turning the ball over just eight times, while shooting 48.2% from the field.

Whittier trailed 42-28 at the break and opened up the second half trailing by 18 but put together an 11-0 run that pulled them within six 54-48 at the 10:18 mark.  A mini run of six straight sparked by a three pointer from Ben Maynard (Pasadena, Calif.) would get the Poets within four 62-58 but an ensuing 8-2 run by the Stags would move the deficit back to ten with 1:40 to play. 

The Purple & Gold would put together one last ditch effort outscoring CMS 10-4 thanks to three pointers from Nick Demusis (Mililani, HI) and Maynard, and two layins by Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) that moved the score to 74-70 but that's as close as they would get as former SCIAC Player of the Year Tyler Gaffaney would knock down two free throws that secured the six point victory.

Demusis finished the night with 21 points and five rebounds.  Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) picked up 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, Maynard had 12 points all coming on triples and Torres had 11 points four rebounds, and four assists off the bench.

For CMS, Gaffaney finished with a game high 31 points and 10 rebounds, Jack Ely had 12 points off the bench and Shelby Lane barely missed a double double with nine points and ten boards.

Whittier returns to action this Tuesday, February 3 as they host La Verne beginning at 7:30pm.