By Zach DeMarcus
December 1, 2017
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (8-2) dropped tonight's game against Antelope Valley (5-2) by a score of 77-74. Hayden Hall hit the game winning three-pointer for the Pioneers with three seconds left on the clock.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "I thought we lost the game the way that we started the second half. We didn't start the second half with hunger or a sense of purpose. That's not Westmont basketball. We gave Antelope Valley a lot of confidence."
 
There were positives to be taken from the game. Zac Jervis finished with a double-double – scoring 19 points and adding 10 rebounds. Moore said, "I thought Zac Jervis was fantastic. He took charges. He was the only guy who seemed to step up and want to take charges. He had six offensive rebounds – offensive rebounds are hustle plays. He was really good in that regard.
 
"The other guy who stood out in my eyes was freshman Kyle Scalmanini. He didn't look anything like a freshman tonight. At times I thought Olisa (Nwachie) was good. He made his free throws and shot it well in the first half," added Moore. Nwachie finished with 17 points and five rebounds while Scalmanini finished with seven points, five rebounds, and two assists.
 
The Warriors had their biggest lead of the night heading into halftime when they were leading 38-32.
 
Westmont seemed to struggle protecting the ball throughout the game. They finished with 14 turnovers. In the second half the Pioneers were able to connect offensively. Moore said, "Antelope Valley is long, athletic, and physical and we weren't able to contain them on the defensive end – they were able to get to the basket."
 
The Pioneers shot 58 percent from the floor and 72 percent in the second half. They also shot 43 percent from behind the arc and 66.7 percent from there in the second half. Moore said, "On our court they shot 58 and 43 percent. That's very surprising.
 
"We out rebounded them 37-25, but we shot very poorly from the field (46.6%) for a team that is a much better shooting team then those percentages show," continued Moore.
 
Antelope Valley was up by as much as eight points with 4:26 remaining in the game. Westmont was able to go on a 12-4 run over the next three and a half minutes to knot up the score at 74 all. Jerry Karczewski scored six of those points on two clutch three-pointers and added an assist as well.
 
With the score at 74-74, Antelope Valley had possession with 23 seconds remaining. They brought the ball down the court and ran a nice play that left Hayden Hall wide open on the left side of the court where he knocked down a three with three seconds remaining.
 
Westmont inbounded the ball to Karczewski who took a few dribbles before heaving the potential game-tying three-quarter court shot that eventually nicked off the front of the rim – bringing the final score to 77-74 in favor of the Pioneers.
 
Westmont has a quick turnaround as they travel to face Pomona-Pitzer tomorrow night. Moore said of his teams' preparation, "I think it is about being fresh. Now it's more about preparing mentally. Pomona-Pitzer is a fantastic executing team. It's a hard place to play. We'll be challenged."
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night.