Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
REDLANDS, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball team earned a berth into the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) tournament Wednesday evening as they held off the Bulldogs of the University of Redlands 85-77.
The Poets have now won two straight and improve to 14-9, 9-5 SCIAC with a big game looming this Saturday, February 20 when they take on Occidental College on the road at 5:00pm with playoff seeding on the line.
Currently there is a four-way tie for 3rd and 4th place in the SCIAC standings with Claremont-M-S, La Verne, Redlands, and Caltech. The Purple & Gold holds the tie-breaker against CMS, Caltech, and Redlands but not against La Verne.
If the Poets beat Oxy on the road they become the No. 2 seed no matter what La Verne does in their game. But if La Verne wins and we fall to the Tigers, and after next Tuesday's games we are tied at the end of the season with ULV, then they will become the No. 2 seed and we drop to No. 3.
A lot riding on these next few games for Whittier but the playoff berth marks the fifth for Head Coach Rock Carter as he still seeks his first Post-Season Tournament victory.
Whittier got things rolling in the first half against the Bulldogs shooting 52% from the field, which included a 48% clip from behind the arc led by Louis Kurihara (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) who went off for 16 of his game high 20 points in 15 minutes of action going 5-of-8 from deep.
The Poets used an 8-0 run that stretched two minutes with three-pointers coming from Ben Maynard (Pasadena, Calif.) and Kurihara capped off with a jumper from Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) that moved the score to 14-6.
Maynard and Kurihara combined for another three triples minutes later that gave WC a lead 25-11 and despite an ensuing 11-2 run by UR, managed to battle back with another pair of three-pointers this time from Jacob Contreras (Pleasanton, Calif.) and Jake Moore (Dallas, TX) helping Whittier take a 41-36 halftime lead.
Redlands battled in the second half turning the table to take a three-point lead midway through and held it for just over eleven minutes but couldn't hold on as Whittier would use an 8-2 run that gave them a three point lead back at 57-54.
The run started with a two handed jam from Mike Jones-Mensah (Ghana, Africa) and Contreras answered with back-to-back daggers from long range.
The Bulldogs would pull within one soon after but this time Moore would connect from deep with a pair of three pointers followed by a Michael Alvarez (Downey, Calif.) jumper that moved the score to 65-59.
Kyle Husslein and Al Bjekovic would rally UR with their own three-pointers that tied the game up at 65-65 but an 11-7 run soon after for the Poets with Chris Kapano (Los Alamitos, Calif.) knocking down a three-pointer and finding an opening for a lay-in would put WC back on top giving them a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
With under three minutes to play, Whittier would add one final push that sealed the road victory as they would score six unanswered with free throws from Kapano and Kurihara, and a three pointer from Moore and Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) would ice the game with three free-throws.
Moore in his first game back from injury put in 14 in just 13 minutes of action going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field with four boards. Maynard had 12 with six rebounds along with Contreras, while Torres finished with eight points, six assists, and eight rebounds.
