By Christy Cain

(POMONA, Calif.) If there is one concrete fact that people know about the Westmont men's basketball team this season, it is that the majority of them are very young.  Their lack of collegiate court experience became blatantly obvious tonight in their 62-85 loss against Cal Poly Pomona.

Going into this game, the Warriors knew that the Broncos have an older and more experienced roster of men who would give them a run for their money. But from the moment they won the tipoff, Cal Poly Pomona took off running and never looked back. And by "took off", I mean that they went on a 22-0 run that had Westmont scrambling to regain their composure.

Five minutes and fifty-five seconds into the game, a three-pointer by freshman Jerry Karczewski finally broke their opponents' streak and got Westmonts first points on the board. From there, the Warriors had miles of ground to make up, but their shots simply were not dropping. In the first half, the men had made a mere total of 9 out of 22 field goal attempts, while Cal Poly sank 20 of their 29  total shots.

To add to the struggle, the Broncos were playing top-notch defense this evening.  By the end of the game, they had earned a total of 22 defensive rebounds, 15 steals and 2 blocked shots. This type of execution and pressure made it difficult for the Warriors to control the ball and find an offensive rhythm.

Despite the fact that he is young, freshman Jerry Karczewski rose to the challenge tonight and simply made plays happen.   With a career high of 22 points—just over one-third of the Warriors' total score—he led the charge and found ways to get points on the board. Karczewski was accompanied by Hayden Anderson with nine points while Kyle Gordon and Cory Blau each earned seven.

The Warriors (1-1) will take the court in Pomona again tomorrow night at 5:00pm as they take on CSU San Bernardino in their second game of the weekend.