WHITTIER, CA. (Jan. 24, 2024)- The Poets hosted one of the top SCIAC teams Wednesday night, in the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. Despite the final score, the men played a hard-fought game and pushed the Sagehens all 40 minutes. There was some great play from Whittier tonight, including a 28-point performance by Aamari Smith (Decatur, GA, San Bernardino Valley), but in the end Pomona-Pitzer would hold on to win this game by a final score of 93-79. 

Starting out hot, the Sagehens quickly got out to an 11-2 lead over the Poets. Whittier was ready to go to battle this game though. The men were playing with a tenacity on the defensive end, pestering Pomona up and down the whole court. Despite being down 20-5 the Poets never quit in this first half and continued to put pressure on the defending SCIAC Tournament Champs. A strong final push in this half put this game in better reach for a chance of a comeback in the second; at halftime Pomona-Pitzer had a 43-33 lead over Whittier.

As the second half began, Pomona came out firing on all cylinders again. The Sagehens had extended their lead to 18 less than 3 minutes into the half, but this is when the Poets started to turn up. The Poets' ferocious defense was pushing the Sagehens the full court and their efforts were paying off. With about 8 minutes left in the game, Whittier had cut Pomona-Pitzer's lead to only 4. Despite this strong push from the men, Pomona had one last late burst of offense in them to run away with this game. The final score would end up being 93-79. 

Smith put on a show tonight on the offensive side, ending as the game's leading scorer with 28. Kunal Bagga (Anaheim, Calif., Servite HS) shot the ball excellently tonight, draining 4 three-pointers on his way to 18 points. Nick Manor-Hall (Chino Hills, Calif., Chino Hills HS) continued his consistent play, finishing with 15 points and 4 rebounds. Kevin Dobson (Corona, Calif., San Diego Christian College) got the start tonight and was excellent at dishing the rock to his teammates with 7 assists. Dobson and Manor-Hall connected in the first half of this game with a jaw-dropping alley-oop that got the whole crowd on their feet. Whittier will return to play Saturday, traveling to Redlands to take on the Bulldogs at 5:00. This game will be the first of the double-header between the Poets' and Bulldogs' Mens and Womens teams.