CLAREMONT, CA. (Nov 29, 2023)- The Poets men's basketball team opened up conference play Wednesday night against the undefeated Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. The Sagehens were the best team in the conference a year ago and came out like they have not skipped a beat. Whittier fought hard, but a bad shooting night would lead to the Sagehens topping the Poets by a final score of 97-71. 

As the game tipped off, Aamari Smith (Decatur, GA, San Bernardino Valley) was able to get off to a great start scoring 6 of the Poets first 10 Poets. This good start was able to keep the Poets in this game, but then the Sagehens were able to extend their lead by going on a 12-0 run. Whittier tried to answer back and were moving the ball well with 7 different players scoring in the first half. However, Pomona-Pitzer was able to take a 46-33 lead into the half.

In the second half Pomona-Pitzer was able to come out and go on another run. In the first 8 minutes of the half the Sagehens were able to extend their lead to 32 over the Poets. Whittier's defense was not able to contain Pomona. The final score of this game would be 97-71 in favor of the Sagehens. 

Aamari Smith (Decatur, GA, San Bernardino Valley) was able to put together a solid scoring night coming away with 18 points and tying the team lead for assists with 3. Kunal Bagga (Anaheim, Calif., Servite HS) connected on 4 of his 3-point attempts in the game and finished as the only other Poet in double digits with 12. Whittier was not able to get anything going on the offensive side and struggled to stop the 3-point shooting from Pomona-Pitzer. Coach Mark Jensen and the team will look to move on from this game and get back on track this weekend. The boys will be traveling to Los Angeles to take on the Occidental Tigers, in search of their first conference victory. 

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