Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball team remained hot Saturday afternoon as they extended their winning streak to three games as they took down Pomona-Pitzer 84-67 in the Graham Athletic Center.

The Poets were in control from start to finish holding a lead throughout en route to improving to 10-7, 6-3 SCIAC, while moving to third place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings. 

Anthony Martinez (Cerritos, Calif.) led the Purple & Gold with 18 points going 6-of-9 from the field, while Jacob Contreras (Pleasanton, Calif.) provided a spark off the bench with 12 points all coming on triples.

Daniel Rosenbaum for Pomona-Pitzer led all scorers with 20 points, while Gibson Farone-Collins finished with 18.

The Purple & Gold started the game off on a 16-7 run, which gave them a comfortable cushion early.  Contreras capped off the run with back to back three-pointers and Martinez and Louis Kurihara (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) would add a couple lay-ins and a free throw midway through.

The Sagehens rallied however and made their way back into the game cutting the Poets lead to 32-29 following an Earl Schultz lay-up with 3:57 to play in the half but WC had other plans as they would take a 43-34 lead into the break following an 11-5 run in the final four minutes.

This run included deep balls from Contreras and Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.), an Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) lay-up and free throw and a jumper from Kurihara from the baseline.

Ben Maynard (Pasadena, Calif.) got the Poets started in the second half like he did at the start of the game with his second three-pointer and that would open the flood gates as Whittier would put together a 14-4 run expanding their lead to 57-38 with 15:29 to go. 

Whittier's defensive unit stood strong down the stretch holding Pomona-Pitzer to 12-of-34 shooting.  The Poets outscored the Sagehens 41-31 in the second half and had a lead as many as 26 at one point as they handed the Sagehens their sixth SCIAC loss.

Despite being outrebounded 48-35 and being outscored in the paint 34-28, the Poets made up for it on the defensive end forcing 14 turnovers and adding 21 points off of them, while getting 31 points from the bench. 

The Poets shot 42.4% from the field, but had an impressive night from the charity stripe as they went 17-for-19 (89.5%).             

Whittier now travels for two games as they take on Claremont-M-S this Wednesday, February 3 beginning at 7:30pm before taking on the University of La Verne on Saturday, February 6 at 2:00pm.