REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team (12-3, 4-2 SCIAC) controlled the game from the opening tip against Whittier College Saturday afternoon inside Currier Gym as they won their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match-up 87-74.
Jhace Boston (Bakersfield, CA) made the opening basket of the game followed by an Omari Ferguson (Chicago, Ill.) triple, and then got to the line converting twice moving the score to 7-0.
Less than a minute later the Poets got out on a fastbreak sparking a comeback making it a one-point game, 7-6. That lead would be stretched to five thanks to a pair of Chozen Amadi (Dallas, TX) three-pointers.
Following a 6-0 Poet run going down to the 10:07 mark WC held their first lead of the game, 18-17. That would be the lone lead of the game for the Purple & Gold as Lucas Gordon (San Marcos, CA) immediately put UR back on top following an and-one :26 seconds later.
After some back-and-forth action that saw Whittier tie the game and Redlands lead by as many as eight, the Bulldogs scored 10 of the final 13 points taking a 41-33 lead into the locker room.
The first minute of the second half saw six combined points from Redlands with Gordon and Ferguson both scoring in the paint for a 10-point lead.
At the 16-minute mark Gordon connected again inside giving the Bulldogs their largest advantage of the game at 19, 56-37. This lead would grow to as many as 24, 69-24, when Kendrick Currey (Manteca, CA) found Nathan Mattera (Fontana, CA) on a fastbreak three-pointer.
This lead would hold over the final 11:37 as the U of R went up by double digits for the final 19:09.
Ferguson had a big game with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from deep, and was one of seven Bulldogs with eight or more points: Gordon (15), Boston (12), Jake Hlywiak (Valencia, CA) (9), Amadi (9), Mattera (9), and Currey (8).
Pomona-Pitzer comes to Currier Gym on Monday, January 20 as the two teams wrap up the season series with a 7:00pm tip-off.
