Box Score Guard Cory Blau racked up 19 points and four rebounds in the season opener for #17 Westmont Men's Basketball (1-0). The Warriors defeated La Verne by a score of 87-71.

"We saw some things that we were capable of doing, which is exciting to think about," said Westmont head coach John Moore who just launched his 28 season as a head coach (23rd at Westmont). We saw our depth, we saw some new athleticism and we saw some guys who played with good energy.

"Cory shot the ball very well. Sam Bentz (9 points, 4 rebounds) played a really nice game. Hayden Anderson (10 points) was our best leader out there. Olisa Nwachie (5 points, 3 rebounds) did some nice things. Noah Blanton (6 points, 5 rebounds) did some good things out there as well. I thought Sean McDonnell (8 points, 5 rebounds) was a really important player for us. He got us started off early in the game and set the tone."

The Leopards held the lead for the first 12 minutes of the game until Blau struck from downtown to put the Warriors up 25-23. Sam Harmen (8 points) followed with a layup as did Nwachie to give Westmont a 29-23 advantage. The Warriors never trailed again.

"I thought we improved defensively in the second half," said Moore about his team that allowed La Verne just 34 second-half points. They shot it very well in the first half (44.0%), but I thought our defense was much, much better in the second half.

The Warriors also took advantage of board superiority to record a 44-23 advantage and score 19 points off of second-chance points.

"We had 15 offensive rebounds. Those are energy rebounds," noted the coach.

The Warriors shot 50.9 percent from the floor (29 of 57), including 53.3 percent in the second half (16 of 30). They were also 10 of 21 from three-point range (47.6 percent).

Next up for the Warriors is an exhibition match against News Release on Thursday, November 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.