Box Score
After a tough road loss at Fresno Pacific last Tuesday night, Westmont Men's Basketball demonstrated a new resolve in an 86-77 Golden State Athletic Conference victory over Vanguard (4-11, 3-6 GSAC) on Saturday night in Murchison Gymnasium. The twenty-first ranked Warriors (13-5, 5-4 GSAC) were led in scoring by senior guard Matt LeDuc who tallied a career-high 23 points while making 10 of 12 attempts from the floor. He also pulled down seven rebounds.

"It was a great victory," said LeDuc. "Guys got me the ball quickly in a position where I could get 23 points. It was a blast out there and a good team win." LeDuc, who moved into a starting role for tonight's game, was clearly inspired. "Tuesday night we had a tough night against Fresno (Pacific)," acknowledged LeDuc. "We had a meeting right after the game and the four captains spoke of what we wanted from this season and what we want for each other. CJ's (Chris Jackson's) words really hit it deep for us. He cares so much he was almost tearing up. All of us were felling it. It was such an emotional moment. I think something changed at that point. It showed tonight - we went on a lot of runs and we were back scoring high points again. I think we are hitting our stride now.

"CJ said that he cares so much about us as people and he cares so much about this sport. It's vise versa. We care so much about him and about this sport. I think guys believe it and care about each other. It makes us seem special and unique. We really are a family." The added motivation moved LeDuc to show up early for pre-game shoot around. "The past three or four games, I've struggled a little bit from the three-point line," noted LeDuc. "I wanted to be sure I got a lot of shots up today. I think I was the first or second guy in here and I got 350 shots up. I think it helped because I ended up shooting two for three from the three-point line and got a lot of points off the break."

The Warriors led by 11 points at halftime and stretched their advantage to as much as 19 when John Miller scored on a layup to make the score 65-46 with 13:43 remaining. But Vanguard battled back to come within three points (68-65) when Mitch Boyce (11 points, 6 rebounds) sank a jumper with 8:27 to play in regulation. Seventeen seconds later, Miller was fouled on a layup which counted. He converted the free throw and put the Warriors back up by six. After a free throw by the Lions' Dennis Heenan (14 points), Jackson (8 assists, 8 rebounds) scored his only points of the night on a jumper to put the Warriors up 73-66 with 7:56 to play. Heenan connected on two more free throws before senior shooting guard Andrew Schmalbach (13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) sank a shot from beyond the arc to give the Warriors an eight point lead (76-68). A steal by Jackson resulted in a layup by Schmalbach to restore a double-digit advantage to Westmont. Miller then scored on back-to-back dunks to give Westmont an 82-68 lead with 4:19 to play and put the momentum solidly on the Warriors' end of the court.

"It felt good," said Miller. "We had a good solid week of practice and it obviously carried over. We let up a little bit and let them creep back. We've got to be able to put teams away at the end of games." "John Miller coming off the bench and playing the way he did was very special," said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. Miller made six of nine shots and both of his free throw attempts to tally 14 points. Junior forward Dan Rasp made seven of 12 from the field and scored 18 points for the Warriors. "Dan Rasp brought us into the game," said Moore "He had 16 at halftime. The more shots he takes the higher percentage he makes. He took 12 shots, and 12-15 is always okay with me." Moore was also pleased with the play of junior Blake Bender who came off the bench to give the Warriors six points and four assists. "Blake did so much behind the scenes this week," said Moore. "He made our second team so competitive on Thursday and Friday (in practice) that we had no choice but to be super competitive tonight. He got 28 minutes and did so many good things." The Warriors finish up the first round of conference games with a road trip to Azusa Pacific (13-6, 6-3) on Tuesday. "From here on out we need to win ball games," said Miller. "We need to win games at home, and we need to get road wins. It's as simple as that. Azusa is a crucial game. It would be very nice to finish above .500 going into the second half of league, especially with the league so log jammed in the middle and everyone competing for that third of fourth spot."

Second ranked Concordia survived a scare from the visiting Sunbirds of Fresno Pacific this evening to remain atop the Golden State Athletic Conference standings. Fresno Pacific led 37-28 at halftime and held the lead for the first 19:50 of the second half. The Eagles tied the game on a free throw with 10 second remaining. A turnover by the Sunbirds gave Concordia the ball back with five seconds left and Justin Johnson scored on a buzzer beater to keep the Eagles perfect on the season (19-0, 9-0 GSAC). Biola (18-1, 8-1 GSAC) remained in second place in the GSAC standings after a 73-47 thumping of California Baptist. Azusa Pacific, which was idle tonight, is tied with The Master's (13-6, 6-3 GSAC) for third place after the Mustangs defeated Point Loma Nazarene 74-71 in Santa Clarita.

Westmont and California Baptist (12-7, 5-4 GSAC) are tied for fifth place. Fresno Pacific (14-5, 4-5 GSAC) is one game back of the Warriors in seventh place and Vanguard is two games back in eighth place. San Diego Christian (4-15, 2-7) edged Hope International (4-14, 0-9 GSAC) by a 74-73 score to move into ninth place, one-half game ahead of Point Loma Nazarene (5-13, 2-8 GSAC). [box score]