Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball team continues to remain relentless on the offensive end as it proved to be a tall task to overcome for the Stags of Claremont-M-S Wednesday evening as the Poets rolled to the 82-70 victory in the Rains Center. 

The win marks the fourth straight for the Purple & Gold as they improve to 11-7, 7-3 SCIAC and moves them into sole position of second place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings.

The game was a back and forth battle in the first half with CMS holding a lead twice in the early stages.  The Poets trailed by seven with two minutes remaining in the first half but clawed their way back with a 9-3 run to pull within one at the break.  Jacob Contreras (Pleasanton, Calif.) drained a three-pointer, Anthony Martinez (Cerritos, Calif.) knocked down two free throws and a lay-up, and Eric Jennings (Fontana, Calif.) converted a lay-up as time expired.

The Stags came out of the break firing on all cylinders jumping out in front 46-37 appearing to have the game in control following three blocks.  But due to a series of fouls and costly turnovers by CMS, Whittier managed to close the gap pulling within one 46-45 only a minute and a half later. 

Soon after Contreras and Ben Maynard (Pasadena, Calif.) would connect from long range keeping the momentum with the Purple & Gold as they took a four point lead.

CMS would pull within one at the 8:00 mark but that's as close as they would get as Whittier showed why they have the top scoring offense in the conference as they would go on to put up 22 points the rest of the way, with eight coming from Martinez.

Martinez put up 18 points with five rebounds.  Jennings had 16 going 8-of-10 from the field, Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) had 15 and Contreras put up a huge 17 off the bench going 6-of-8 from the field, 5-of-7 from deep.  Richard Kaye (Irvine, Calif.) played a huge role off the bench adding four points but had a team high six rebounds.           

Whittier remains on the road this Saturday, February 6 as they take on the University of La Verne who sits one spot behind them in the standings with tip-off set for 2:00pm.