By Zach DeMarcus
February 1, 2018
 
(ATHERTON, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (17-4, 7-1 GSAC) slipped past the Oaks of Menlo (15-8, 2-6 GSAC) in this evening's Golden State Athletic Conference matchup behind 23 points from Zac Jervis. The finals score was 83-74 in favor of the Warriors.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "It was a good team win especially with the different lineup that we had out there. I was real impressed with how tough minded our guys were – especially with the guys who haven't played a lot of minutes. Matt Ramon did some superb things for us."
 
Both teams fought in the first half – neither team able to pull away from the other. Menlo went into halftime with a 40-39 lead over the Warriors. The Oaks shot 57.7 percent from the floor in the opening half.
 
Westmont played this evening's game without two of their key pieces in Olisa Nwachie and Kyle Scalmanini. Moore said, "We decided to hold them both out as a coaches' decision."
 
In the second half, Menlo went up by as many as eight points on three separate occasions. With 8:22 left the score was 60-68 in favor of the Oaks. Westmont began to chip back and lock down on defense. Moore said, "When it counted most our guys got in their stance and played warrior defense."
 
The Oaks would see their eight-point lead wither away over the next two minutes. Westmont was able to tie the game after a made free throw from Jervis, a 3-pointer from Sean Harmon, and two made free throws from both David Gunn and Jerry Karczewski. This brought the score to 68-68 with 6:18 remaining. Harmon, Gunn, and Karczewski all finished 17 points.
 
Westmont finished the game, from 8:22 remaining, on a 23-6 run and securing their 83-74 victory. "They were up eight and we ended up winning by nine – we were able to get multiple stops in a row," said Moore.
 
The Warriors out rebounded the Oaks 32-27. 10 of those rebounds were offensive boards for Westmont – Jervis pulled down five. Gunn finished with nine rebounds. Moore said, "I think David Gunn and Zac Jervis in particular cleaned up the boards for us."
 
Westmont went 21 for 28 (75%) from the free throw line and Menlo only made six trips to the line all game. "I thought we really attacked the basket and that's why we were getting to the line, and we got Menlo into foul trouble in both halves. Menlo had to play the type of defense that they typically play which is hard-nosed – we did what we needed to do as well," added Moore. "The other side to that is we didn't foul. We kept them off the line."
 
The Warriors remain in second place in the GSAC standing trailing only #4 The Master's. Westmont finishes their road trip Saturday against William Jessup. Moore said, "We'll have Olisa and Kyle back and we'll be at full strength. Looking forward to seeing how they can contribute after having stepped out for a game. I look forward to the confidence that we've got with the guys who were able to contribute tonight."
 
Westmont faces William Jessup Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 p.m.