WHITTIER, Calif. (Dec. 14, 2025) – A jumper from junior guard
Jonathan Duley (Rocklin, Calif. Del Oro / Cuyamaca College) capped an epic comeback for the Whittier College men's basketball team at home against the University of California, Santa Cruz Banana Slugs on Sunday afternoon.
The Slugs projected to be a tricky test for the Poets given both teams' run of results to open the year, and looked every bit the part through the game's first 20 minutes. They took a 17-point lead into the break and held Whittier to just 24 points in the first half, performing better both from the field and on the glass. However, everything changed in the second half when the Poets forced the Slugs to play to their tempo.
The tide really began to turn when senior wing
Chine Nwanevu (Eastvale, Calif. Norco / Cal State San Bernardino) entered the game. Nwanevu, who came into the season as one of the SCIAC's top defensive players, created four steals in just 17 minutes of action and had one of his team's six blocks that helped turn the idea decidedly in the way of the host Poets. Senior center
Tochi Onyeador (Amuri, Nigeria / MEC) took on one of his toughest assignments of the season in his Banana Slugs counterpart but pulled his own weight defensively, twice rejecting one of the visiting team's top offensive players while picking up a third rejection to record his second three-block performance since joining the team.
First-half game flow dictated the Poets having to play catch up with the Banana Slugs in early going, but with both teams given a chance to reset in the second half, Whittier wasted no time leaving a scoring impression. Senior guard
Bryce Whittaker (Burbank, Calif. / Providence) took in a layup from Duley to open second half scoring for either team before Duley hit a jump shot on the ensuing possession, followed by another Whittaker field goal off a nice feed from Onyeador. Just five minutes into the second frame, Whittier had whittled UC Santa Cruz' lead from 17 all the way down to four, and both teams continued to change leads down the stretch.
A last spurt from the Slugs saw them tie the game at 73 with a three-pointer at the 25-second mark, but the Poets used their final timeout to draw a play up for Duley to hit the game-winning shot. With just over three seconds to go, Duley created enough space to sink the game-winning shot from the mid-range wing, leaving the visitors with just 2.7 seconds to fire the ball down the court and find an answer. However, this attempt was met with Nwanevu ball-hawking the game-winning steal that secured the Poets their fifth win of the young season. Duley closed the game with 25 points, scoring 20 in the second half behind 8-of-10 shooting.
Head Coach Mark Jensen and the Poets will head to NorCal next to play a pair of games against Pacific Union University and Cal State University, Maritime this week before exhibitioning San Diego State University towards the end of the week.
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