Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball team exited the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Post-Season Tournament in the semi-finals for the fifth time Friday evening and the second as a No. 2 seed falling 76-74 to the University of Redlands.
Head Coach Rock Carter has made the tournament five out of the last eight years with 2015-16 being the second time as the No. 2 seed and is now 0-5 in Post-Season play.
Whittier finishes the season 14-12, 9-8 SCIAC placing 3rd in the final SCIAC standings, while Redlands advances to the SCIAC Post-Season Tournament Championship game against Chapman University, which will take place tomorrow night at 7:30pm at Chapman.
After a dominating first half where the Purple & Gold got out to a lead as many as 17 at one point, saw the Bulldogs storm back in the second erasing the 11-point halftime deficit outscoring WC 43-30 in the second half en route to the two point victory.
The game came down to free throws. Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) had an opportunity to tie the game up with under :15 seconds to play but made one of two. Joey Sponheim came down and made one of his two free throws after being fouled that put UR in front by two and Chris Kapano (Los Alamitos, Calif.) would take the final three-pointer at the buzzer that would wind up being short allowing Redlands to hold on for the road victory.
Jacob Contreras (Pleasanton, Calif.) who led the conference in three-point percentage coming into the contest proved why he is one of the most proficient shooters in SCIAC lighting it up from the long range early. He added the first triple of the game from dead center and then came back to add another two that helped Whittier stretch their lead.
But it was the deep ball for UR that kept them in the contest and helped give them the victory on the evening. They shot 46% from behind the arc in the first half and finished with a 41% clip for the game. There was no answer for Sean Milligan who finished 5-of-9 from deep totaling a team high 20 points. He joined Nate Battisti and Al Bjekovic in double figures as they added 15 and 12 points, each respectively.
UR jumped out in front early 18-10 putting Whittier in a tough hole but they managed to get out of it with a 17-2 run that put them back in front 32-24. Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) started the run off with a lay-up and Jake Moore (Dallas, TX) added a deep three ball that cut the deficit to four. Mike Jones-Mensah (Ghana, Africa) then got involved with two free throws and Torres and Kapano would add back to back tres that moved the score to 28-24. Jones-Mensah would then kiss a lay-up high off the glass and Anthony Martinez (Cerritos, Calif.) would add a lay-up himself that put the Poets in front by eight.
Whittier led 44-27 dominating on both ends of the floor but saw Milligan add a quick five points at the very end on a three-pointer and a free throw and Will Tendor with a buzzer beating lay-up that ended the half.
In the second, it was all Bulldogs as they opened with a 10-2 run that cut the deficit to seven. Jones-Mensah would add a lay-up and free throw that pushed the lead back to double digits but it would be the ensuing 10-0 run by the Bulldogs capped off with back to back three-pointers from Battisti and Kyle Husslein that knotted the game up at 56-56.
Torres stopped the run at the 10:11 mark with a pair of free throws and a lay-up but Redlands hung around taking a lead 70-68 after a three-pointer and two free throws from Milligan. Jennings came down on the very possession and pulled up from the elbow and knocked down a jumper that again tied the game up and Kapano would hit a big three-pointer that put Whittier in front 73-72 with 3:45 to play but that would be the last lead the Poets would hold as UR would finish the game off on a 4-1 run.
Milligan knocked down a shot clock expiring three-pointer from long range and Sponheim would seal the victory with a free throw.
Torres finished with a double double 22 points and 11 boards. Jennings had 15 with three steals and Kapano and Contreras each had nine. Martinez managed just seven points but had three rebounds, four assists, and four steals, while Jones-Mensah added seven points and five boards in 15 minutes of action.
Whittier graduates seven seniors with four of them being from within their starting lineup. The Poets and Bulldogs were almost identical from the field at 42.9%-41.5%, but it was the long-range shooting that plagued the Poets shooting just 31.4% from behind the arc, while UR was 40.7%.
