WHITTIER, Calif. (Dec. 4, 2024) – Senior guard
Aamari Smith (Decatur, Ga. / Roosevelt / San Bernardino Valley College) of the Whittier College men's basketball team held strong as one of Division III's best offensive players as he helped the Poets to an 84-76 win at Occidental College in the first SCIAC game of the season.
Smith's 37-6-4 line was needed, as the Poets played against a tough Tigers team with neither team able to truly break away from the other. However, Smith has been as important a cog as ever in Head Coach Mark Jensen's system this season, and Wednesday night was no exception. When he was needed most, he delivered.
Despite the Poets taking a five-point lead into halftime, it wasn't until the second half that Smith was really able to catch fire. He entered the break with 13 points and finished with 37 on 13-of-23 shooting. He also knocked down seven free throws and four of his team's nine three-pointers for the game. No matter the terms, Smith's scoring instincts were as sharp as ever. Given Oxy's second-half shooting performance, the Poets needed to hold serve offensively in their own right in order to have a chance to win, and thanks to 24 second-half points, Smith came up as big as ever for the Purple & Gold.
The senior was not the only Poet to find his range from deep. Classmate
Morgan Cox (Lawton, Okla. / Velma-Alma / Simpson University) knocked down a trio of triples in his own right in an expanded, starting role, with 26 minutes to his name. Cox's sharp shooting allowed Smith to pile up the assists, as he led all Poets with four.
Other notable Whittier contributors included junior guard
Chine Nwanevu (Eastvale, Calif. / Norco / San Bernardino Valley College), who led all Poets with nine rebounds. Meanwhile, senior guard
Roy Kalu (Lynn, Mass. . Pioneer Charter School of Science / Roxbury Community College) came off the bench to join both Smith and Cox in double-figures.
Jensen and the Poets will face another step up in competition when they travel to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday, Dec. 7.
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