THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. –The Whittier College men's basketball team for the second time this season have cruised past the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University with an 81-46 victory that has the Poets leaning towards another SCIAC post season berth.
Whittier now improves to 14-5, 6-2 SCIAC, while Cal Lutheran drops to 6-12, 2-6 SCIAC.
After hitting triple digits against the Beavers of Caltech this past Saturday, the Poets came out determined to win their second straight and make a final push in the second half of the season towards yet again another post season berth after narrowly missing the opportunity last season.
After being tied up at 24-24 at the half, the Poets used a 14-0 run in the second and back to back to back three pointers from Brandon Thomas and Greg Preer to take a 44-30 lead, which proved to be the difference late in the game as the Poets outscored the Kingsmen 57-22 in the second half.
Drew Menez again led the Poets as he posted a team high 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting to go with six boards and four steals going 3-of-5 from behind the three point line. Fellow senior Preer also posted double digits tossing in 19 to go with five assists and three steals, while Kelly Johnson ran the point dishing out eight assists in 23 minutes of action.
Willie Mebane who is playing in his second straight game after recovering from a knee injury that had him out for nine games again came off the bench to play big minutes finishing with five points, two assists, two steals, and one block and this coming after a 21 point performance against Caltech.
In the first half Whittier jumped out to a 4-1 lead but saw the first half turn into a seesaw battle with neither team taking a substantial lead. The Poets saw some breathing room at 16-12 at the 8:23 mark but again saw the Kingsmen come back. With the game tied up at 18-18 with 4:57 remaining in the first Menez came up with back to back threes to push the Poet lead to 24-20 but it wasn't enough as the Kingsmen went on a 4-0 run to close out the half thanks to a basket from Aaron Van Klaveren who finished with a game high 22 points.
Coming out of the break the game remained close until Whittier went on the 14-0 run starting at the 17:25 mark covering just over three minutes. This gave Whittier a lead they would not relinquish and in the end Whittier shot an astounding 52% from the field, while winning the battle of the boards 38-34. The Poets saw their largest lead reach 35 points at one time early in the second half and tallied 40 points in the paint to go along with 22 points off of turnovers.
Coach Carter feels his team is growing stronger as a collective unit as the season progresses and tonight's win showed that. He feels his team will be ready for a big push here in the second half of SCIAC play and are poised to collect a SCIAC post season berth.
Up next for the Poets comes yet again another big matchup against the Stags of Claremont-M-S who remain on top in the SCIAC standings with their only loss coming from the hands of the Poets in double overtime in the confines of the Graham Athletic Center that took place on January 21.
But this time it's different, where the Poets don't have the Poet Pit behind them and they have to travel to Ted Ducey Gymnasium where the Stag faithful will be out in numbers to support their nationally ranked men's basketball team. This game is set to take place this coming Saturday, February 4 beginning at 7pm immediately following the women's game.