HONOLULU, Hawai'i – In a see-saw second half that saw the lead changes hands eight times, the Whittier College Poets got a layup by Willie Mebane with six seconds left to squeeze out an 80-79 win over the George Fox University Bruins in the final game of the Surf's Up Men's Basketball Classic Saturday afternoon here at Kalani High School.
The Bruins came out with all offensive guns blazing, using a 13-0 run to burst out to a 15-4 lead four minutes into the game. Sean Atkins, who scored the Bruins' first two points, hit a layup to tie the game 4-4, A.J. Grant canned back-to-back three-point baskets, and Anthony Sanchez hit a layup and a three to give the Bruins their early double-digit lead. They extended the margin to 13 twice, the last on an Atkins jumper that made it 21-8 with 14:36 to go in the half, and the lead was still 12 at 31-19 following a Seth Brent layup at the 8:41 mark when Whittier rallied.
A layup by Dylan Irwin ignited the Poets, who got a three from Phillip Thomas and consecutive buckets by Jacob Porter to get within one at 31-30 with six minutes to play. Whittier never took the lead in the final six minutes, but another three by Porter enabled them to be within one at the break, 46-45.
Atkins and Porter carried their respective teams in the opening 20 minutes, Atkins scoring 20 on 8-11 from the field and 4-4 from the line, and Porter tallying 16 on 7-9 field goals with a pair of threes.
Brent hit a layup to open the second half, but the Poets answered with nine points in a row on two baskets by Tyree Landrum and a layup and a three by Chris Barnes-Williams to take their largest lead at 54-48 with 16:31 left. Whittier was still up by six with 12:30 to go when the Bruins out-scored the Poets 15-8 over a five-minute stretch, regaining the lead 67-66 on a three-pointer by Spencer Bolte at the 7:22 mark. From that point on, it was virtually a swap meet as neither team led by more than two points again.
With George Fox holding a 73-72 lead, Barnes-Williams nailed a three with 1:34 remaining to give Whittier a 75-73 lead, but Grant answered with a long bomb 17 seconds later, only to have Barnes-Williams again drain a three with 55 seconds left. Jason Martin's trey with 40 seconds left gave the Bruins their final lead of 79-78, and Thomas missed a go-ahead shot with 21 seconds left but got his own rebound, giving the Poets one final opportunity. Mebane got inside for a layup off a pass from Barnes-Williams with six ticks left, leaving the Bruins with one last chance, but Atkins misfired with two seconds to go.
Atkins, who has led the Bruins in scoring in every game this year, had a game-high 23 points, getting help from Martin with 12 and Grant and Sanchez with 10 each. The Bruins hit 10 threes in the game, but a horrendous game from the free-throw line (the Bruins hit only 9-22, a .409 percentage, after shooting over .750 coming in) proved costly. Sanchez just missed a double-double with a game-high nine rebounds, Jon Adrian passed out five assists, and Bolte had three steals.
Porter paced the Poets with 17 points, followed by Barnes-Williams with 15, Mebane with 12, and Thomas with 10. Porter had eight rebounds as the Poets held a slim 37-36 edge on the boards. Thomas handed out five assists, and Aaron Fernandez made three steals.
NEXT: George Fox (2-3) opens Northwest Conference play next Saturday at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., with a 7:00 p.m. tipoff ... Whittier (2-2) hosts the University of La Verne Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest.