Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

PASADENA, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball Team looked strong Wednesday evening as they hit the half-way point of conference play following a big 74-58 victory over Caltech.         

Whittier improves to 9-7, 5-3 SCIAC, have now won back to back games and now sit in second place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings.

The Poets overcame a hot start by the Beavers to take a five point lead into the half and used a big 39-point performance in the second half to hand the Beavers their fourth conference loss as they drop to 6-11, 4-4 SCIAC.

CIT jumped out in front 7-2 and maintained a lead 15-10 in the first five minutes.  But the Purple & Gold would rattle off 10 unanswered sparked by three straight lay-ins from Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.), Anthony Martinez (Cerritos, Calif.), and Mike Jones-Mensah (Ghana, Africa), and capped off with a three-pointer from Jacob Contreras (Pleasanton, Calif.) which switched momentum in their favor.

The lead stretched to double digits soon after with a mini 7-2 run with Martinez adding a three-pointer and free throws and Jennings adding another lay-in, but Caltech would throw in their own run over the final two minutes that cut the deficit to five. 

Whittier steadily extended their lead to 24 in the second half with 8:47 to play as Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) would find his stroke adding 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting.  The Beavers staged a late rally however holding the Poets to just two points the rest of the way but were only able to add 10 themselves as Whittier would go on to win by 16.

Contreras led all scorers with 15 off the bench all coming by way of the deep ball.  Martinez put up 13, Jennings with 12 and nine boards and Ben Maynard (Pasadena, Calif.) and Torres both adding 11, while combining for nine rebounds.

Jones-Mensah was the last Poet in double figures chipping in with 10 in 23 minutes of action.         

Whittier returns home this Saturday, January 30 as they take on Pomona-Pitzer beginning at 2:00pm.