REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands men's basketball team (12-3, 4-2) 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) game 87-74.

Jhace Boston made the opening basket, Omari Ferguson hit a three, and Boston got to the line and converted twice for a 7-0 lead.

Less than a minute later the Poets got out on a fastbreak and made it a one-point game, 7-6. That lead would be stretched to five thanks to a pair of Chozen Amadi threes.

Following a 6-0 Poet run down to the 10:07 mark they held their first lead of the game, 18-17. That would be the lone lead of the game as Lucas Gordon immediately reclaimed the lead on an and-one 26 seconds later.

After 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 and took a 41-33 lead into the locker room.

The first 51 seconds of the second half saw six combined points with Gordon and Ferguson both scoring in the paint for a 10-point lead.

At the 16-minute mark Gordon again scored and gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 19, 56-37. The lead would get as large as 24, 69-24, when Kendrick Currey found Nathan Mattera on the fastbreak for a three.

They comfortably held onto the lead over the final 11:37 as they were up by double digits for the final 19:09.

Ferguson had the big game with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from deep, but he was one of seven Bulldogs with eight or more points: Gordon (15), Boston (12), Jake Hlywiak (9), Amadi (9), Mattera (9), and Currey (8).

Pomona-Pitzer comes to Currier on Monday as the two teams tip off at 7 p.m.