LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Jan. 9, 2010) – Since mid-November the Occidental College men's basketball team has been preparing for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season. Tonight, at Rush Gymnasium the Tigers earned a 71-57 victory over the visiting Whittier College Poets, stretching their win streak to four games.

In a game that the Tigers controlled from the get-go, players shared the spotlight, as they have done all season. Four players finished with double figures and senior Huston Conti recorded a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double while handing out three assists.

Whittier opened the game with a basket from DaMon Perry, who finished with 18 points, before Oxy went on a 16-0 run to pace the flow of the game. The largest lead of the game came with 7:16 to play in the opening stanza when Jake Copithorne scored in the paint to put the Tigers up by 17 points. Whittier used a late 6-0 run to get within eight, but Jack Hanley put in two of his seven free-throws to give the Tigers a 31-21 lead at the break.

After Conti was held to just two points in the first half, he exploded for 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting, including a pair from behind the arc in as many chances. Not only did he contribute on the offensive end of the court, he played solid defense, with eight rebounds in the final frame.

Mid-way through the second half Oxy pushed their lead to 18 points, at 52-34 before the Poets chipped away and pulled within seven with just over four and a half minutes in regulation. Deshun McCoy, who finished with 14 points, sparked a 6-0 run as the Tigers closed out the game with seven of the final nine points scored.

McCoy was 7-for-11 from the field and poured in 10 second half points. Hanley and Sean Anderson scored 13 points apiece in the game while Eric Leider tallied eight points while he and Hanley each dished out six assists, a game-high. Copithorne came off the bench to score eight points for Oxy.

On the glass, Oxy out-rebounded WC 45-32 and came up with 14 offensive boards, which they converted into 15 second chance points. Whittier pulled down 11 offensive boards, led by Perry who had five, finishing with a game-high 14 rebounds as part of a double-double. McCoy recorded a pair of blocks while Copithorne added one of his own and Hanley had a team-leading three steals.

The Tigers held the Poets to  just 9-for-27 shooting in the first half. Overall, WC hit 36% of their shots and was strong at the charity stripe, going 9-for-11. Occidental combined to shoot 45% from the field, but was 16-for-21 from the free-throw line despite knocking down 7-for-8 down the stretch. WC and Oxy both struggled to find their three point game, going 4-for-20 and 3-for-12, respectively. In the paint, Whittier held the edge, scoring 34 points while Oxy managed 28.

 Drew Menez led all players with 19 points in the game.

Occidental will host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Rush Gymnasium. Both teams enter the event with 9-3 overall marks and 1-0 SCIAC records. Tonight CMS earned a 77-62 victory over the University of Redlands. Whittier (6-5, 0-1) will travel to Pomona-Pitzer (5-7, 1-0) where the Sagehens are coming off a 78-72 overtime victory over the University of La Verne as conference play in 2010 begins with a bang all around. Cal Lutheran University (7-5, 1-0) defeated Caltech 84-50 to round out opening day scores.