Poets' second half comeback falls short against CMS

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College men's basketball team trailed by as many as 19 points with less than seven minutes to play in Saturday night's conference tilt against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and pulled within one-point on a David Hayashi three-pointer with two seconds left but that would be as close as the Poets would get.

The Stags closed the door on the Whittier comeback with a pair of free throws by Ben Bergsma who sealed the deal for Claremont in its 77-74 win over the Poets.

Whittier (15-9, 9-4) falls to third place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings with one game left on the schedule.

The purple and gold led early in tonight's game but held its last advantage at 18-16 with 6:48 to play in the first half. From there the Stags (18-6, 10-3 SCIAC) closed the half on an 18-6 run to take a 34-24 lead into the half.

The Poets trailed 67-48 with 6:23 to play in the game and went on a 26-9 run capped by the Hayashi three to pull within one.

Hayashi and Marcus Gibson each finished with a game-high 12 points while AJ Manalo added 11 points off the bench.

The Stags were paced by the game's high scorer in Chris Blees who scored 23 points and added eight rebounds.

The Poets close out the regular season on Tuesday, February 24, as they travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif., to face Cal Lutheran in a pivotal conference game. If Whittier wins they will secure second place in the SCIAC and assure themselves of a first round home playoff game.

Photo by: Tony Leon/Action West Photography