Box Score

By Bradford Sargent
December 7, 2016
 
Westmont (9-1) defeated The Master's University (7-1) by a score of 84 to 78 on Wednesday night.  Eleven Warriors contributed to the victory.  The Warriors must rebound quickly for a match against #15 Hope International University (6-0) on Saturday. 
 
Westmont jumped out to a four-point lead in the first 10 minutes thanks to four made shots by Cory Blau.  The Mustangs would rally, though.  Matthew McClain's roof-shaking dunk sent his team into the locker room with a 34-30 halftime advantage and all of the momentum.  The second half was characterized by back-and-forth play.  Down by five with 2:08 remaining, Blau scored five straight points to even the game at 65 apiece. 
 
After a tense first overtime, the teams entered double overtime tied 72 all.  The Master's University would tie the game at 74-74, but after that it was all Warriors.  Westmont's perimeter defense was excellent in the game's final minutes.  Moore's team forced the Mustangs to settle for two-point shots when they needed to hit from beyond the arc.
 
While the Warriors could stare down their opponent eye to eye, The Master's University was superior in the bulk category.  The average height, 6'3'', of players who entered the game for Westmont was only an inch less than the average height of Mustangs' players, yet Westmont was on average 12 pounds lighter than the men in white.  The Mustangs' strong box outs on the offensive glass created multiple second-chance opportunities.  Controlling the boards for The Master's University was guard Lawrence Russell and 6'6'' 215-pound forward Matthew McClain.
 
Despite a strong performance by Lawrence Russell, Head Coach John Moore complimented Hayden Anderson for minimizing the guard's impact.  According to Moore, "He [Anderson] forced him [Russell] to shoot well below his shooting percentage.  I thought we did a nice job making his shots very tough late."  Coach Moore went on to compliment his defense for holding Reid Shackelford, the Mustangs' leading scorer so far this season, to one point. 
 
Cory Blau led all Westmont scorers with 28 points.  Sean Harman was tops in the assist column with five.  Britton Williams had a nice night with five rebounds and two assists.