Poets drop crucial SCIAC game

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issue 15, Joseph Marlitt, whittier college men's basketball SCIAC loss, Sports - By Joseph Marlitt on Thursday, January 26, 2012 - 02:46

The Poets fell 66-57 to the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday, Jan. 25 in a battle of one-loss teams in SCIAC. The Poets shot 55.5 percent from the free-throw line with nine misses, a differential that ended up costing them the game. The two teams came into the contest in a three way tie for first place in the league with Claremont Mckenna, whom the Poets defeated in double-overtime in their previous home game.

The Poets drop to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in SCIAC, which drops them into the third place spot. The Poets were plagued by poor outside shooting and rebounding. The Sagehens out rebounded the Poets 48-37 with 16 offensive boards and converted from the foul stripe, shooting 19-23, an aspect of the game that the Poets failed to capitalize on. Whittier shot a dreadful 2-22 from beyond the 3-point arc, with six different players failing to find the bucket from long range.

The full-court press was effective for the Poets early on in the game as they went on a 12-0 run that was caused by three Sagehens turnovers. But after that nothing would fall for the Poets and Pomona-Pitzer went on a streak of their own, scoring 15 straight points. The two teams continued to exchange the lead and the Poets finished the half off on top 34-32.

The Poets were led by senior forward Nathaniel Easterman, who had 23 points and nine rebounds. The big man had 8 points more than his season average of 15 points. Easterman scored seven of the Poets first twelve points including a pull-up 3-pointer on a fast break the give the Poets an 11-0 lead during that early run.

The Poets leading scorer senior forward Drew Menez, who came into the game averaging 18.7 points per game, was a non-factor with five points on 2-10 shooting and 0-5 from beyond the arc. Senior guard Brandon Thomas also contributed little as he scored only one point during his 34 minutes of play.

Whittier will look to bounce back from this setback when they host Caltech on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. Caltech is without a SCIAC win so far this campaign and are 5-11 overall.