Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – In front of a raucous crowd of almost 2,000 strong all donning their white in support of the "White Out", the Whittier College men's basketball held on for the 97-86 victory Tuesday night over the Tigers of Occidental College.

With the win the Poets improve to 14-9, 8-6 SCIAC remaining strong in the fourth spot in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings, while Occidental drops to 10-13, 6-8 SCIAC.

Oxy jumped out in front early 5-0 but saw an ensuing Poets 9-0 run led by Nick Demusis (Mililani, HI) who tossed in seven of the nine points that gave WC the lead 9-5.  JJ Friedman then responded though for the Tigers with eight consecutive points, which included two three pointers and Juwan Rice added two layups that gave Oxy a 17-12 lead at the 12:59 mark. 

They extended the lead to ten 29-19 with 6:53 to play in the first half following a pair of free throws from Andrew Johnson but the Purple & Gold stormed back with the Poet faithful on their feet with a 13-0 run with three triples coming from Demusis (2) and Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) that gave them back the lead 32-29.

As the GAC got louder the Poets became even more deadly in the final 1:54 scoring the final seven points of the half to take a 39-31 lead into the break.  Out of the half, Demusis brought the fans to their feet again with a layin and would add a layup and two handed jam a minute later that ignited the "White Out".  Freshman Louis Kurihara (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) came alive soon after lighting it up from deep adding back to back triples with the second being contested in the corner that extended the Poet lead to 54-41. 

Andrew Johnson would add six straight to pull Oxy within 12 with under five to play and a 7-0 run with 1:15 to play would pull the Orange and Black within ten 90-80.  Oxy attempted to put on a stifling press, which forced turnovers down the stretch that got them within nine but that's as close as they would get as Whittier's Jennings and Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) would knock down six free throws that secured the 11 point victory.

Torres finished with a game high 24 points with 20 coming in the second half.  He also had five rebounds, five assists, two steals, and three blocks.  Demusis added 21 points with four rebounds and four assists, and Jennings had 15 points, eight boards, two assists, and two steals.  Andrew Bucholtz (Lone Tree, CO) had 13 points and six rebounds and David Richardson (Los Angeles, Calif.) had nine points and five boards off the bench.    

The Poets have a bye this Saturday and will resume action next Monday, February 23 at 7:30pm in the Graham Athletic Center when they take part in PAC the GAC against the University of Redlands.