WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 3, 2010) – Occidental College jumped out to an 8-0 lead and held a 10-point advantage before taking a 30-26 lead at the intermission en route to a 70-64 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Whittier College on the road at the Graham Athletics Center tonight.

The Tigers controlled the tempo of the game in the first half and never trailed although the Poets pulled within a point with 1:37 to play in the opening stanza. Jack Hanley connected for a three-pointer after Sean Anderson picked up one of two blocks in the game and Huston Conti came away with the ball.

Occidental saw a 64-54 lead, with 5:18 remaining in regulation, dissipate when Whittier used a pair of free-throws and back-to-back baskets off turnovers to pull the score to 64-61 with 3:23 to play. The Tigers then combined to knock down six free-throws down the stretch, holding WC to just one basket over the final three minutes to hold on for the win.

While WC outscored Occidental 28-18 in the paint, held a 20-12 advantage in points off turnovers and forced 17 Tiger miscues the Black and Orange shot 45% from the field and connected on 50% of their three-point attempts tonight to sweep the season series.

Eric Leider came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, which included a 5-for-7 performance from beyond the arc, in just 18 minutes. Hanley added 15 points and Deshun McCoy chipped in with 12. David Ostrow was 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, finishing with eight points, as did Anderson, who dished out four assists as well.

On the glass Oxy pulled down 38 rebounds to the Poets' 35, but Whittier came away with 15 offensive boards, which they were able to convert to 14 second chance points. The Tigers came away with 11 offensive rebounds that turned into eight points. Whittier's DaMon Perry led all players with 11 boards. Occidental got six rebounds apiece from Hanley, Conti and Jake Copithorne, who had three on the offensive end of the court.

Whittier (8-10, 2-6 SCIAC) was just 3-of-18 on three-pointers and shot 37% from the floor in the game. Drew Menez was 8-for-18 from the field as he led all players with 21 points. David Hayashi finished with 15 points, going 6-for-6 at the line.

Occidental (14-5, 6-2) will be on the road Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. in a showdown with SCIAC leading Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (15-4, 7-1). Tonight CMS defeated the University of Redlands 97-89 in overtime to claim sole possession of the top spot.