With junior guard Alex Rudd (St. Louis, MO) leading the way on Saturday, the University of Redlands men's basketball team collected its ninth win on the season and remained undefeated in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) by downing the Poets of Whittier College, 93-79.  Despite trailing by one at the halftime break, the Bulldogs responded well and used seven second-half three-pointers en route to outscoring the Poets by 15 points in the second stanza for the exciting win.

In a fast-paced, back-and-forth opening period, Whittier took control first, jumping out to an 11-4 lead after just two minutes.  However, the Maroon and Gray answered quickly, as junior guard Matt Calhoun (Clackamas, OR) and senior guard Tristan Kirk (Redlands, CA) both converted layups within the next 60 seconds.

Needing to find some extra energy, Head Coach Jim Ducey looked to his bench for an offensive spark.  Immediately after entering the game, Rudd nailed a shot from beyond the arc, junior forward Brandon Hrboka (San Pedro, CA) made a layup, and junior guard Ricky Peetz (Redlands, CA) hit consecutive shots from downtown, as the Bulldogs tied the contest at 19 apiece with 14:20 left in the half.

The teams continued to fly up and down the floor for the remainder of the first period, trading buckets and three-point shots.  Redlands' senior forward Josiah Brensdal (Kent, WA) made a layup with 2:35 remaining in the stanza to give the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the half at 46-40.  Two straight shots from downtown for the Poets tied the game up at 46-46 and Tyree Landrum gave Whittier the one-point lead on a made free-throw just before the break.

During the first half, Whittier shot an astounding 66.7% from the field and from long range, compared to Redlands' 40.0% overall showing and 35.7% effort from beyond the arc.

The second half saw the Poets record a couple of quick baskets before Bulldog junior guard Eric Radford (Federal Way, WA) sank a three-pointer and a jumper to pull Redlands back to within two.

Once again needing an offensive lift, the Bulldogs looked to Rudd to step up by scoring eight points in a two-minute span and Redlands retook the lead at 61-60 less than five minutes into the second frame. 

Whittier refused to go down without a fight, however, as the Poets continued to trade bucket for bucket with Redlands. 

Still in the zone for the Maroon and Gray, Rudd drained two shots from downtown to go along with a jumper to push the Bulldog lead to 10 points midway through the second half.

With just over four minutes remaining, Redlands put the game out of reach when freshman forward Shawn James (Plano, TX) and senior guard Brian Kuklok (Poway, CA) sank consecutive shots for the Maroon and Gray, extending the lead back to a comfortable 15 points. 

Solid defense down the stretch led to the 14-point victory, as the Bulldogs held Whittier to just 43.3% shooting from the field in the second half.  In particular, senior forward Steven Williams (Ventura, CA) helped to shut down the Poet offense with a consistently strong effort down low.

On the night, the Bulldog bench impressed with a total of 54 points. Rudd led the charge by registering a career-high 24 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field, including six three-pointers.  Peetz also added to the potent Bulldog offense, hitting four shots from beyond the arc en route to notching 14 points, three rebounds and three assists.  Additionally, Hrboka recorded a career-high with 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field.

The Poets ended up out-shooting the Bulldogs, with a 54.4% performance compared to the home team's showing of 43.1%.  Whittier (5-8, 1-3 SCIAC) put together a balanced attack with Landrum leading the offense that included five players in double figures.  He scored 15 points and pulled in nine rebounds.

Nonetheless, rebounding and extra opportunities provided the difference for Redlands, as the Bulldogs registered a 45-31 margin on the boards.  Additionally, the Maroon and Gray won the free-throw battle, going 19-for-22 from the charity stripe, while the Poets ended up shooting just 8-for-21 from the line.

Redlands (9-4, 4-0 SCIAC) takes to the road on Wednesday when it faces off against the University of La Verne in a 7:30 p.m. showdown with the Leopards.