WHITTIER, Calif. (Jan. 23, 2025) – Senior guard
Aamari Smith (Decatur, Ga. / Roosevelt / San Bernardino Valley College) of the Whittier College men's basketball team joined the 1,000-point club with a masterful 34-point performance in Whittier's 99-65 road win at Caltech on Wednesday night. Smith is the first Whittier player to achieve 1,000 points for his career since Nick Potthoff '20, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic stoppage, and most importantly, the fastest player in program history to 1,000. It took him just 41 games.
Smith has taken like a duck to water in Head Coach
Mark Jensen's offensive system, and on Wednesday, the senior standout was the best player on the court by a margin. He dumped in 34 points to blow past the 1,000-point threshold, and further stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Meanwhile, he committed just one turnover, which has been a key for his expanded success this season. As it pertains to Wednesday, Smith got the job done primarily in transition. The Poets had 12 fast break points to the Beavers' two, and Smith knocked down a trio of triples for good measure.
However, Smith was not the Poets' top deep threat on Wednesday. Junior transfer
Jaden Mathis (Pasadena, Calif. / Pasadena / Palomar College), a Pasadena native and graduate of Pasadena High School, played the best game of his Whittier career back in his hometown and was absolutely unconscious from the perimeter. He knocked down five three-pointers on eight attempts to bury the Beavers. Meanwhile, Whittier outscored Caltech by double-digits in both halves to put a bow on an excellent collective performance. If there was a third star for the Poets, it would be senior guard
Roy Kalu (Lynn, Mass. / Pioneer Charter School of Science / Roxbury Community College), who came off the bench to score 20 points for the second time in the last four games. Kalu shot plus-50-percent from the field and got involved on the glass with six rebounds.
At point guard, sophomore
Sean Cervantes (Hacienda Heights, Calif. / La Mirada) got the starting nod in place of the resting
Andrew Milot (Murrieta, Calif. / Balboa / Knox College), and responded well with eight points and four assists in 21 minutes of work.
Coach Jensen and the Poets will continue to jockey for position among the SCIAC's top five when they host nationally-ranked No. 23 California Lutheran University on Saturday, Jan. 25 for a 4 p.m. game.
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