Photo by: Tony Leom/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball team ended their 2019-20 season on a high note following an 82-65 win over Cal Lutheran University Tuesday.

The Purple & Gold complete the season sweep over the Kingsmen and finish the year 11-14, 6-10 SCIAC.

Whittier had four of five starters reach double figures led by Nick Potthoff (Phoenix, AZ) who finished with 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting to go with four rebounds and two assists.  Jude Agbasi (Los Angeles, Calif.) followed with a season high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Kenyatta Louder (Compton, Calif.) posted a double double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. 

The last Poet in double figures was Nolan Black (Olympia, WA) who added a 12-point performance with five boards, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

It was a quick start for Whittier jumping in front 22-6, which included four consecutive three-pointers to start the game off from Louder, Agbasi, Black, and Potthoff.  Following a Palmer Chaplin layup that ended the run WC strung together ten unanswered with five coming from Agbasi and another five from Louder that opened the game up.

CLU was able to weather the storm though and put together an 8-0 run that cut the deficit to nine.  It then became a five-point game at the 4:31 mark and the teams would exchange buckets the rest of the way into the break with the Poets holding onto a 41-33 advantage.

The Kingsmen started off the second half with five straight points that got them within three.  The game remained close over the next few minutes with CLU getting within three at 51-49 at the 12:48 mark.  But after that it was all Whittier putting together an 11-3 run, which included Agbasi converting a four-point play and Ahmad Young (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Journey Shank (Burbank, Calif.) answering from deep.  The lead stretched back to 11 with 7:42 to play and WC didn't let up as Black would string together seven in a row down the stretch, capped off with a game-securing triple from Potthoff.       

Whittier shot 44.3% on the game and was red hot from deep with a 43.6% clip.  They outrebounded the Kingsmen 47-45 but was outscored in the paint 26-14 along with giving up 14 second chance points.