Box Score
Dan Rasp scored 25 points and pulled down six rebounds as Westmont Men's Basketball recorded an 82-61 Golden State Athletic Conference win over the Royals of Hope International on Saturday at Murchison Gymnasium. As a result of the victory, the Warriors improved to 15-7 on the year and 7-6 in GSAC play. "Danny played the way he has played a good portion of his career," said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. "Before the game, I said to the team, 'Do you notice that when Dan gets a lot of shots early in the game how our lead goes from six to sixteen really quick? So let's get Dan lots of shots early in the game and Dan, let's have you be a little more aggressive.' He was very aggressive. We looked for him and we found him."

The 6-5 junior forward is averaging 13.9 points per game this season which is a bit of a dip from last year when he averaged 16.0 and even his freshman year when he put up 14.1 points per contest. Asked about the change in Rasp's production, Moore said, "We are a much, much better team this year. We are much better because Blake Bender is a much greater threat, Evan Haines is a bigger threat and CJ is a much bigger threat. John Miller is having his career season and Matt LeDuc has been very, very good. Andrew has been consistently good throughout his career and early in this season was hitting at a very high percentage from the three-point line. Dan is the kind of guy who is going to be encouraged by his teammates' success and wants to let them have their touches."

Even at his current rate of scoring, Rasp is on a pace to threaten for the Warriors all-time career scoring record by the end of his senior year. In Saturday's game, Westmont jumped out to a 25-10 lead and never looked back. At the half, the Warriors led 43-27. Westmont's biggest lead of 27 points (81-54) came with 4:04 left in regulation. Freshman guard Preston Branson scored 14 points for the Warriors on five-of-five shooting. "Preston had a great night tonight and will get better each year," said Moore. People will be surprised by his basketball instincts. Jordan Sachs did some very nice things and we saw a little about how those two freshmen are going to play together the next three years."

Junior forward Blake Bender put up 10 points for the Warriors while Evan Haines, also a junior forward, scored nine points and collected 12 rebounds. Senior point guard Chris Jackson added six points, nine assists, and five steals. Hope International (4-18, 0-13 GSAC) was led by Buai Tut who scored 17 points while making six of 11 attempts from the floor, including four of seven from three-point range. As a result of Saturday's win, the Warriors find themselves tied with California Baptist for sixth place in the GSAC standings. The Warriors will host the Lancers on Tuesday night in Murchison Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. "Tuesday night is an opportunity to play against a team that beat us earlier," said Moore, referring to an 81-66 loss in Riverside in early January. "Anytime you have an opportunity to do that, your sights are set. We have been practicing in preparation for Tuesday's game. Even in the latter part of last week, as we prepared for Hope International, we were doing some things to prepare for Cal Baptist as well. California Baptist has maybe the fastest, quickest guy in the league in Larry Dew and has maybe the fastest three-man in the league in Davey Hopkins.

"They shot it well against us and we did not play well defensively," said Moore of the loss. "The day before we played against Cal Baptist we may have had our worst practice of the season. It was a good teaching moment for our guys. I'm sure tomorrow will be more like Friday. In Friday's practice, after a tough road loss, it would have been easy for our guys to sit down and be demoralized. Instead, they came out and practiced super hard. I'm very proud of the team for that. In the shoot-around before the game, it was more like a practice than a shoot-around. They are ready and are anticipating good things for the remainder of the season. I think they are locked in on what it means to be a team that plays with great effort." [box score]