Box Score

By Ron Smith
December 30, 2016
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif) Impressive - that might be a good way to describe Westmont Men's Basketball's 98-46 win over California Maritime (8-8) in the final game of the 41st Annual Tom Byron Classic. But "impressive" is probably not a strong enough word.
 
Surprising - that captures an important concept about winning by a margin of 52 points against a good team. However, that word seems a bit weak.
 
"After last night's game - where we were less consistent - I thought tonight we were really locked in," said Westmont head coach John Moore. "I'm not talking about the shooting - that was a bonus. Our defense was just outstanding."
 
The Warriors held the Keelhaulers to just 26.7 percent shooting on the night, including 14.8 percent in the first half.
 
"Cal Maritime's Daniel Bradford had 25 points the night before," said Moore, "and we held him to nine, which is half his average. Justin Eison was the other guy who, aside from his hitting a couple of three's late; we did a really nice job on him."
 
"The defense we played in the first half to hold a team that executes as well as Cal Maritime does to 14 percent and nine percent from the three-point line was remarkable. We played with great connectedness and great cohesiveness via our talking. (Assistant coach) Jeff Azain runs our defense and he deserves the credit for that from a coaching perspective."
 
From a player's perspective, Moore credited Hayden Anderson and Sean Harmon.
 
"Hayden could have been an all-tournament player from my perspective," said Moore. "Sean and Hayden shoulder the responsibility to guard the best perimeter guys and they did quite well."
 
The Warriors jumped out to a 13-0 lead while holding the Keelhaulers scoreless for nearly the first six minutes of the game. After giving up a jumper to Phil Randel and a pair of free throws to Radford, Westmont scored the next seven points to take a 21-4 advantage with 9:17 left in opening round action. By halftime, Westmont held a 43-14 lead. The Warriors had made 50 percent of their shots 15 of 30, including six of 11 from three-point range.
 
There would be no let down in the second half. Westmont's offensive efficiency increased in the final frame with the Warriors making 67.7 percent of their shots (21 of 31) including 78.6 percent (11 of 14) from beyond the arc.
 
By the time the game was over, Westmont had tied its record of 17 three-point field goals in a single game and established new Tom Byron records for most three-pointers in a single game and most three-pointers in two games (26).
 
Jerry Karczewksi led the Warriors with 24 points while Sean McDonnell had 18 and Maxwell Hudgins totaled 17.
 
"We have tried to convince Jerry to get to the basket a little bit more," said Moore, "and he got there and made some really difficult shots. That gave him confidence in his ability to step back and make threes. Four of his five three-pointers were made in the second half. Jerry was pretty special tonight.
 
"Sean McDonnell had a nice shooting percentage at seven to nine. One of my favorite plays was when the shot clock was running down and he volleyball tipped it to the rim so we got a new shot clock. Sean Harmon then came in and cleaned it up.
 
"Max was really good tonight. We have been waiting for Max to come to the party. He has shot well in practice, but not in games. It was fun to see Max playing with a smile on his face. Guys looked for Max to give him opportunities."
 
Moore likes what he is seeing in his ninth ranked Warriors that have now run their record to 13-1.
 
"I have been surprised by how well we have played two of our last three games," said Moore. "I think the best NAIA Division II coach on the west coast is Cal Maritime's Bryan Rooney and one of the best NCAA Division III coaches is Ken Scalmanini at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who we played just before Christmas. In both of those games by half time we had a healthy lead. We were able to play well offensively because we played especially well defensively.

The Warriors will look to continue their winning ways next week against two very good opponents. On Tuesday, Westmont will play at Arizona Christian (12-1) and then on Saturday, the Warriors will welcome #1 Biola into Murchison Gym (13-1).
 
"Arizona Christian and Biola are really good teams that are really well coached," said Moore. "In fact, all three coaches went to Cypress College - Jeff Rutter (Arizona Christian), Dave Holmquist (Biola) and myself. We all have a good bit of (Cypress) coach Don Johnson in us.
 
"The only game I am thinking on right now is the first one against Arizona Christian. Last year, they got us pretty good. Hayden wasn't able to play last year because of his injury so Hayden can't wait to get back home and share his home town with the rest of the crew. Hayden always seems to play well when he is back home. So, I can't wait to get out there and play against an outstanding opponent who just had a really good win against Carroll - one of the top NAIA teams in the country."