A fierce and frantic finish went the way of Whittier College as the University of La Verne fell short in a 68-66 defeat to the Poets in the SCIAC men's basketball opener Wednesday night at Graham Athletic Center in Whittier.
La Verne (1-2, 0-1 SCIAC) led 62-59 with three minutes left before a Willie Mebane steal and layup cut the lead to 62-61 with 2:07 remaining. Vince Bauer hit a jumper to push the Leopard lead back to three at 64-61 with 1:36 to play. Whittier's Chris Barnes-Williams struck a dagger to the Leopards when he sank a three-pointer and was fouled. He would convert on the free throw to give Whittier a 65-64 lead.
Alex Wolpe hit a layup with a minute remaining to allow the Leos to reclaim the lead at 66-65, but the Poets responded on a Phillip Thomas layup with 30 seconds left to go up 67-66. The Leopards came up empty on their final two possessions as the Poets escaped with the two-point win.
The Leopards fought back from a 12-point deficit in the second half. Trailing 53-41, La Verne responded with a 10-0 spurt to cut the deficit to two points at 53-51 with eight minutes remaining. A Jake Vieth three-pointer later gave La Verne a 58-57 edge with 5:45 to play and Jourdan Simmonds would hit a three to push the Leopard lead to five points at 62-57 with under five minutes left.
Whittier (3-2, 1-0 SCIAC) forced 24 Leopard turnovers on the night with Thomas registering 4 steals for the Poets. La Verne shot 43.1% from the field (25-58) and made 10 of its 16 three-point field goal attempts. The Leos out-rebounded Whittier 39-31.
Barnes-Williams led all scorers with 23 points for the Poets. Simmonds paced the Leopard offense with 21 points, finishing with five three-pointers in the defeat. Vieth added 16 points for La Verne.
The Leopards will next be in action on December 5 as it hosts Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at Frantz Athletic Court. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
