Box Score CLAREMONT, CA. – The No. 24 Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team suffered their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) loss of the season to Whittier College 97-93 on Wednesday night at Voelkel Gymnasium.
Season Impact: with the loss, the Sagehens fall to 12-3 on the year and 4-1 in SCIAC play.
The Sagehens were led by sophomore Matthew Eberle who had a career-high 17 points in the loss. Junior Alex Preston had 15 points and senior Adam Rees had 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Senior Micah Elan tallied seven assists and passed Norman Carter on the All-Time Career Assists list to become the new All-Time Leader in Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball history with 378 assists.
A lights out shooting night for both teams at Voelkel Gymnasium tonight with both teams at 50% from the field and the Poets shot an outrageous 50% from three hitting on 17 of their 34 attempts while the Sagehens shot above their average as well at 43.3% from beyond the arc. Pomona-Pitzer outscored the Poets 46-22 inside the paint but the incredible shooting night by the Poets was enough to lift them over the Sagehens.
Pomona-Pitzer got out to an early lead to start the game with senior Jack Boyle hitting on an earl three to give the Sagehens a 9-5 advantage. The Poets took a 12-9 lead shortly after on a made three and then controlled the lead throughout the early stages of the first half. Pomona-Pitzer came back and tied the game at 28-28 with 8:07 left until halftime but Whittier got hot to close out the first half and went into the locker room with a 46-41 lead.
The Poets picked up where they left off in the second half and opened up their largest lead of the night on the Sagehens at 10 points at 55-45 just over two minutes into the half. Pomona-Pitzer battled all the way back and reclaimed the lead at 66-64 after Eberle nailed threes on back-to-back possessions and forced Whittier to take a timeout.
The Poets and Sagehens exchanged leads multiple times throughout the following minutes after the timeout and Whittier found themselves up 83-82 with just under three minutes to play. The Sagehens tried to make a late comeback but the Poets stayed solid at the line and closed out the game to hand the Sagehens their first SCIAC loss of the season.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next travel to SCIAC opponent Cal Lutheran on Saturday, January 18th at 2:00 p.m.
