Box Score
Shooting 54.5 percent from their home floor on Friday night, #5 Westmont Men's Basketball (12-3) cruised to a 94-59 win over UC Merced (0-16). "Thursday night (against South Dakota Mines) we were relieved to win and elated for Jordan Sachs but discouraged by our lack of ability to finish a game," said Westmont head coach John Moore. "It was nice, tonight, to have a game were we finished going up rather than surviving." Sachs delivered a half-court buzzer beater on Thursday night as the Warriors squeaked by the Hardrockers 73-71 in overtime. "This felt like a breather tonight," said Moore of the 35-point win. "I thought we got great play out of our bench. I particularly loved the kind of energy Jarred Wilson (4 points, 3 rebounds) played with. He had four assists and no turnovers. I thought Brendan Hill (4 points, 6 rebounds) was magnificent in the second half. Marcus Farrand (10 points, 3 rebounds) played strong and Kyle Gordon (6 points, 5 rebounds) hit two big threes. Jason Ritchey had 11 points and five rebounds."
Junior forward C.J. Miller and senior guard Niko Brooks led the team in scoring with 15 points each. Miller added four rebounds and Brooks three. Daniel Carlin tallied 11 points and pulled down five boards. Sachs added nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Cooper Damron contributed nine points and seven rebounds to the Warrior cause. "I thought we defended very well in the second half," assessed Moore. "We held them to just 21 percent from the field in the second half and we rebounded well. Tonight we took care of the ball with only three turnovers in the second half." The Warriors outscored the Bobcats 50-24 in the second half and posted a 51-35 rebound advantage for the game. With the Warriors up by one (25-24) and 7:33 showing on the first half clock, Miller and Brooks hit back-to-back threes to start a 9-0 run. Farrand completed the run with a lay-up and free throw, giving Westmont a 34-24 advantage. UC Merced would get no closer than six points the rest of the half.
The Warriors led by 10 points (51-41) four minutes into the second half when Damron scored on back-to-back layups to spur a 22-5 run that put the game out of reach. Next up for the Warriors is the start of Golden State Athletic Conference play on Tuesday night, January 8. The Warriors will host rival Biola (10-6) in a men's and women's doubleheader. The women tip off at 5:30 p.m. with the men scheduled to start at 7:30. "The Eagles are a great rivalry game against one of the guys I admire most in all of coaching," said Moore. "Dave Holmquist does as good a job preparing his team as anyone in the country. So we will have a great challenge ahead of us. Throw the records out, those don't matter. They always play well, particularly in Westmont games." [box score]