LOS ANGELES — Spencer Levy scored 30 points with five three-pointers and Jay Miller added 17 points of his own, but it wasn't enough and the Tigers dropped a 91-86 overtime loss to the Whittier College Poets in Rush Gymnasium on Saturday.

With the loss the Tigers fall to 8-7 overall and 4-3 in SCIAC play. The Poets improve to 11-5 and 5-2.

The Occidental men's basketball team came into Saturday's game against Whittier tied with the Poets for third place in the SCIAC.

The Tigers gained the early momentum in the second half going on a 6-0 just over a minute into the period, capped off by an electrifying Andrew Johnson dunk, his second of the game. Johnson recorded a double-double with 19 points and 17 rebounds.

With only 27 seconds left in the second half, Poets guard Andrew Bucholtz drove to the rim and laid in the game tying basket to even the score 77-77. The Tigers had an opportunity to win the game in regulation but an attempt by Johnson went off the mark.

Overtime: The Tigers took the first lead of the extra period with Juwan Rice netting a contested shot at the rim. Whittier's Eric Jennings responded on the following possession tying the game with a jump shot from the top of the key.

On the other end of the court, Andrew Garrison grabbed an offensive board, was fouled on the put back, and made his free throw to finish the three-point play. A layup by Johnson put Oxy up by three a minute later. But with 47 seconds remaining, Bucholtz sank a three-pointer to put the Whittier back up by two and sealed the win for the Poets.

First Half: After trading the lead four times early in the game, the Tigers jumped out to a nine point lead with 10:12 remaining in the half following lay-ups by Johnson, Austin Hawk, and a jumper by Levy.

The Poets cut the Tigers' lead to as few as four points, but buckets by Garrison, Levy, and a free throw by Miller late in the period put the Tigers up 41-35 going into the break.

Levy scored 18 points with four three-pointers and had 3 rebounds in the first half.

Next Game: Oxy travels to second-place Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday.