Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The battle for first place occurred Wednesday evening in the Graham Athletic Center between the Whittier College Men's Basketball team and Chapman University.

Despite a strong contingent of the Poet faithful the Purple & Gold were unable to pull off the upset as they fell 77-75, dropping to 12-9, 7-5 SCIAC and into a tie for second place with Redlands, and La Verne.   

The game came down to the final seconds.  Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) had tied up the game at 75-75 with a three-pointer from the corner with :34 seconds left on the clock.  After a timeout from Chapman, Panther Head Coach put the ball in the hands of Cam Haslam who missed a lay-up, which was hauled in by Anthony Martinez (Cerritos, Calif.).  Martinez then grabbed it and made his way to the corner where he quickly turned and tried a skip pass to Torres but the ball was stolen by Davis Dragovic who laid it up for the go ahead points.

With :5.2 seconds, Whittier's Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) would grab the inbounds and go coast to coast but was pressured as he went to the basket, forcing him to miss the game-winning opportunity.

The Poets trailed early 15-8 but put together a 6-0 run with lay-ups from Jake Moore (Dallas, TX), Mike Jones-Mensah (Ghana, Africa), and Michael Alvarez (Downey, Calif.) that pulled them within one.

CU stretched their lead to double digits at the 1:18 mark but Martinez would go off for four points, which included a free throw and three pointer that sent the Poets into the half trailing by just seven.

In the second half, the Panthers maintained an edge despite small runs by the Purple & Gold.  Jennings added a three-pointer and two free-throws to pull Whittier within six and Jones-Mensah battled inside a minute later going into traffic for a two handed jam that brought the Poet faithful to their feet.

At the 5:11 mark, Chapman managed to hold a 10 point advantage 71-61 putting the Poets into a tough spot but they responded in a big way putting together ten unaswered with back to back three-pointers from Louis Kurihara (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) and Torres, a lay-up from Jennings and capped off with a Martinez lay-in.  This pulled the Poets even at 72-72.

Haslam and Dragovic would end the run with a layup and free throw to put CU in front 75-72 but again WC would answer with Torres adding another three-pointer from the corner that deadlocked the game.

Jennings led the Poets on offense with 19 points.  Torres had 16 with 12 boards and Martinez had 15 that went with six rebounds, six assists, and two steals.  Jones-Mensah played big inside chipping in with nine points off the bench and hauled uin six rebounds.     

Whittier celebrates their Centennial this Saturday, February 13 as they remain at home when they take on Caltech beginning at 2:00pm.