Amidst a raucous and enthusiastic crowd, the University of Redlands men's basketball team came back from an eight-point deficit and held off a late rally to capture an exciting 71-67 victory over the visiting Poets of Whittier College on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs took over the lead with 14:11 to go in the second period when junior guard Patrick Coffey (San Carlos, CA) scored two of his game-high 27 points. Redlands extended its lead to 11 points at the five-minute mark but Whittier refused to go away. The Poets fought within two points in the waning seconds but sophomore guard Kent Ervin (Bend, OR) sank two critical free throws to secure the victory for the Bulldogs.

Redlands turned the ball over only 10 times, compared to the Poets' 15, which resulted in 15 points for Redlands.

Besides Coffey's stellar performance, Redlands gained 19 points off of 5-for-12 shooting from sophomore forward Matt Dietrich (Phoenix, AZ). Sophomore center Andrew Mills (Newcastle, WA) chipped in eight points and five rebounds.

Redlands (7-13, 3-6 SCIAC) heads to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. game with the Sagehens.