By Jarred Davis
October 28, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (1-0) won last night's exhibition game against Identity Hoops International by a score of 91-87. Four different Warriors scored double-digit points in the victory.
 
Identity Hoops is a team of college basketball and ex-pro players that travels around the country using basketball as a source to preach the Gospel. This is the fourth time in the last five seasons that Westmont has hosted them in Murchison Gymnasium.
 
"We did a nice job of executing offensively to take the game back under our control," said Westmont head coach John Moore.
 
Olisa Nwachie, Gyse Hulsebosch, and Tristan Lloyd were three individuals who cracked double digits adding 22, 20, and 10 points each, respectively.
 
Moore had nine players take the court Friday night, two whom were freshman that looked to make an impact right away.
 
Cade Roth and Matthew Schmidt combined for 18 points and nine rebounds, giving the Warriors an immediate spark off the bench.
 
"I thought [Matt] Schmidt was just suspringsly good tonight in terms of his hustle and his effort," added Moore.
 
"Then you saw how good of a player [Cade] Roth is gonna be. He's gonna be a really nice college basketball player."
 
The Warriors found themselves trailing 46-35 through the first 20 minutes of play, but quickly made adjustments and followed a new game plan in the second half.

"I thought we played a little bit too scared in the first half," added Moore on his team's effort early on.
 
"The other part I thought we just missed open layups, open looks which in in the second half, all of sudden [Gyse] was making great looking threes. [Olisa] started making some shots from a place where he should be shooting the ball."  
 
Westmont shot 70 percent from three-point distance in second half, and picked up their intensity on the defensive end, making things tough for Identity Hoops.
 
"I thought we were better in the second half, [Matt] Ramon started with a good steal," added Moore on his team's defense.
 
"I think we can still do much better defensively and we will, that's something we will take pride in."
 
The Warriors will look to continue their winning ways next week against two very good opponents on the road. On Friday, Westmont will play at Portland Bible in Oregon and then on Saturday, the Warriors will play in another exhibition game against Portland.
 
Tip-off for both nights are set for 7:00 p.m.
 
"We're looking forward to playing somebody else, and looking forward to getting on the road and seeing how we do against two very good teams," said Moore.