Box Score
With Westmont's Dan Rasp and Preston Branson sitting on the bench due to injuries, Hope International (7-4, 1-3 GSAC) had a chance to do something it has never done before in 25 previous meetings with the Warriors - win. The opportunity, however, went by the wayside as sophomore Matt Hornbuckle and freshman Marcus Farrand stepped up and scored 13 points each to lead the Warriors (7-3, 2-2) to a 75-69 victory at Murchison on Saturday night. "Sophomore Matt Hornbuckle did a nice job in his first time as a starter," said Westmont head coach John Moore. "We put Matt on their leading scorer (Jeremy Kilgore) and he held him to one basket and three points. We also held their second-leading scorer (Aaron Woods) to seven points."


The Warriors found themselves trailing the Royals most of the first half despite having scored 73.9% of their attempts from the field. Down 31-22 with eight minutes left in first-half action, CJ Miller (6 points) sandwiched three-point buckets around a layup by the Royals' Sergio Lugo (4 points) to make it a 33-28 game with 7:11 showing on the clock. After Kris Rosales (9 points, 4 boards) converted two free throws for Hope International, T.J. Lipold (9 points, 3 rebounds) drained a three and Hornbuckle added a layup to pull Westmont to within two points (35-31) with 4:31 to go before the intermission. The Warriors briefly took the lead on back-to-back jumpers by Evan Haines (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Lipold before Orlando Collins scored to tie the game at 37-all with just over two minutes to play. Westmont's Brendan Hill (4 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists) responded with a layup and Hornbuckle scored from beyond the arc to give Westmont a 42-37 advantage at halftime.


"Even before Danny and Preston went out of the line up we haven't started exceptionally well," said Moore. "We are trying to figure out what are the safest things we can do offensively and defensively that will allow us to score. We changed some things up today and those didn't work particularly well. What did work well was Jordan Sachs, CJ Miller, and Matt Hornbuckle coming into the game. Getting the three of them and TJ Lipold to hit threes in the first half is what made a big difference for us." Up by five points midway through the second half, Farrand scored on back-to-back layups and Hornbuckle converted two free throws to give the Warriors a double-digit lead (61-50) for the first time in the game. With 7:04 left to play, Hill scored on a layup and the Warriors posted what turned out to be their largest margin of the night (63-50). The Royals pulled to within four points in the final minute of the game, but it proved to be too little too late.


Farrand led the Warriors in the second half with nine points. "I thought Marcus was the player of the game," said Moore. "You could tell from the excitement of the crowd and the good nature of the crowd that they wanted him to do well, as they do for our other freshmen. They chanted his name when he came out and at the end of the game when there were zeros on the board they changed his name again. "Here is a guy who had very severe knee surgeries. Many people would have said (to him), 'You will never play college basketball.' He found his way through that and I thought he was very special tonight. I thought he had a presence out there and a confidence in himself." The Warriors will play once more before taking time off for the Christmas break. On Friday, Westmont will host the Oaks of Menlo (2-7) in a 7:30 p.m. game. [box score]