Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College Men's Basketball team rebounded from their loss to Caltech in a big way Thursday evening as they rolled to the 109-70 victory over West Coast Baptist.

This wraps up the Purple & Gold's non-conference schedule as they move back to .500 on the season at 5-5, 0-2 SCIAC.

The win also marks the second of the season over the Eagles as Whittier goes 2-0 with their first win coming back on November 19 where they won 96-75.

Thirteen players saw court time with six reaching double figures.  Conner Longmire (Tarzana, Calif.) led all scorers with 17 going 6-of-10 from the field and 3-of-5 from three point territory.  Jake Moore (Dallas, TX) who has been battling injuries put together his best performance of the season with a 16 point effort, while Chris Kapano (Los Alamitos, Calif.) put together an impressive stat line with 13 points, five boards, four assists, and two steals.

Louis Kurihara (Culver City, Calif.) finished with a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman Nick Potthoff (Phoenix, AZ) added 10.  Off the bench Jacob Aruta (Stockton, Calif.) again found himself in double figures this time with 11 points and six rebounds in just 14 minutes of action.

Whittier put on a shooting clinic all night finishing with a 55% shooting percentage from the field, along with a 49% clip from behind the arc.  They controlled every category, winning the boards 59-34, 2nd Chance Points (14-11), and bench points (36-19).

Two ties occurred in the early stages of the contest but that was short-lived as Whittier would put together five straight in a minute that gave them a 9-4 lead before they would continue rolling taking a 51-35 lead into the break.  The second half proved even tougher for the Eagles as they tried to stop the Poets offensive juggernaut as WC would outscore them 58-35 in the second 20:00 minute period, while grabbing a lead as many as 46.                                

Whittier returns to their conference schedule tomorrow, Saturday, January 7 as they travel up to Thousand Oaks, Calif. to take on the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University beginning at 4:00pm.