Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball team extended their winning streak to three games Wednesday evening as they held off Pomona-Pitzer 70-63 to improve to 7-5, 3-1 SCIAC.

With the win the Poets move into a four-way tie for first place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings.

SCIAC Player of the Week Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) again led the Purple & Gold finishing with 22 points and nine rebounds and now has 73 points and 21 rebounds in his last three games. 

The first half was tightly contested but the Poets managed to hold a 35-26 lead at the break with Torres adding 11 and sparked by a 4-for-4 effort from long range in the first three minutes with triples coming from Ben Maynard (Pasadena, Calif.), Chris Kapano (Los Alamitos, Calif.), and Louis Kurihara (Pacific Palisades, Calif.).

The Poets began pulling away late in the frame as they went on a 16-2 run to lead 32-19 with 2:49 remaining.

But the Sagehens chipped away at the Poet lead however adding another seven behind a Daniel Rosenbaum jumper and a 16-point effort from Gibson Farone-Collins that kept them in the contest at intermission.

In the second half, Pomona-Pitzer stayed in striking distance as they got within five 66-61 with 2:24 remaining in the game and had an opportunity for the game tying basket with 17 seconds left on the clock but Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) would come up with the block of Rosenbaum allowing Whittier to come away with the big road victory.

Torres was the lone Poet in double figures but had two players around him with nine including Jennings who also had four rebounds, three assists, and two blocks, and Maynard who knocked down three, three pointers for the game coupled with four boards and three assists.        

Whittier has a big match-up on the road this Saturday, January 16 when they travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif. to take on Cal Lutheran University beginning at 2:00pm.