Box Score
Senior forward Dan Rasp became the eighth Warrior in Westmont Men's Basketball history to score 1,500 career points in Tuesday night's 77-76 Golden State Athletic Conference victory over the Mustangs of The Master's College. The Warriors improved to 19-7 overall and 11-6 in conference play while The Master's fell to 10-17 overall and 3-14 in the GSAC. Rasp now sits at 1,515 points and is seventh on the all-time scoring list after passing Dave Schultz (1981-84) who recorded 1,502 points in his career. The Warriors shot 56.3 percent from the floor to the Mustang's 46.0 percent. Three-point shooting kept The Master's in the game.

The Mustangs made 12 of 23 attempts from beyond the arc (52.2%) while Westmont made just one of eight from a three-point distance. Neither team achieved a double-digit advantage at any point during the contest. With 59 seconds remaining in regulation, The Master's Devin Dyer tied the game at 73 by sinking two free throws. The Warriors brought the ball past mid-court and called time out to set up their next play. When play resumed, Preston Branson, who led all scorers with 25 points, drove the lane and laid the ball in the net to put the Warriors up 75-73. The Mustangs then brought the ball past the mid-court line and called their own time-out with 23 seconds remaining. The Master's opted to put the ball in the hands of Leif Karlberg (17 points, 6 rebounds) but Westmont's Blake Bender (19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists), relieved Karlberg of the ball with nine seconds remaining on the clock. After a final Westmont timeout, the Warriors inbounded the ball to Branson who was immediately fouled, sending the GSAC's leading scorer (17.3 points/game) and second-best free-throw shooter (83.9%) to the charity stripe.

After Branson converted the first attempt to make it a 76-73 game with eight seconds left, The Master's head coach Chuck Martin used his final timeout to try and ice Branson. It didn't work. Branson made the second shot as well, giving the Warriors a four-point cushion. As it turned out, the Warriors needed every bit of that cushion. The Mustangs charged down the court and Karlberg sank a three-pointer to account for the final score. But it was too little, too late. With three games remaining in the regular season, Westmont sits alone in fourth place in the GSAC standings. The Warriors are two games ahead of Fresno and Point Loma Nazarene who are tied for fifth and two games behind #15 Biola in third. If the Warriors retain sole possession of fourth place at the end of the GSAC season, they will earn a home game in the first round of the upcoming GSAC Tournament. [box score]