By Zach DeMarcus
February 10, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (20-4, 10-1 GSAC) played a superb second half to erase a 17-point halftime deficit and defeat San Diego Christian (14-11, 2-9 GSAC) in tonight's Golden State Athletic Conference basketball game by a score of 89-80. Olisa Nwachie scored a career-high 30 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "We had a horrible first half and a great second half. We got a lot of good play out of a lot of people. The game ball goes to our defense. I thought our defense in the second half was outstanding."
 
The Hawks came out ready to play and quickly went up 11-0 in the first half. The Warriors struggled to find an answer defensively all half. With 11:03 remaining, Westmont was down 16-21. The Hawks sprinted on a 20-2 run over the next five and a half minutes. San Diego Christian then led by a game-high 23 points with 5:31 left in the half.
 
Moore said, "Our defense in the first half, as one of the players just said, 'was as bad as it has been all season.'"
 
The Warriors would eventually head into halftime down by a score of 30-47. The Hawks shot 53 percent from the field and 64 percent from behind the arc in the first half. They held Westmont to 34.5 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from behind the 3-point line.
 
From the moment the Warriors inbounded the ball for the second half, they were different team. They seemed to play the rest of the game with a sense of urgency. In the first five and a half minutes of the half, Westmont went on a 14-4 run to cut the 17-point deficit to seven.  
 
The Warriors defense executed a well communicated press that helped force eight San Diego Christian turnovers in the second half. Moore said, "Talking means you're unified. When you don't talk you're thinking about yourself. I thought our guys were unified in the second half in particular."
 
With 11:21 remaining and the score at 53-60, Westmont's Nwachie went one for two from the charity line, he followed up with a layup, Kyle Scalmanini then buried a 3-pointer to bring the Warriors within one at 59-60.
 
Sean Harman nailed a three with 7:51 remaining that finally erased the deficit and tied the game at 70. Ben Okhotin stole the ball and after he missed a layup and grabbed his own rebound, he laid the ball in –giving the Warriors their first lead of the game at 72-70. Okhotin would bury a three on the next possession to extend the lead to five.
 
Scalmanini converted on a layup and Nwachie hit two free throws with 4:21 left to finish a 12-0 run – pushing Westmont's lead to 79-70.The Warriors would go on to win by that same margin at 89-80.
 
Westmont outscored San Diego Christian 59 to 33 in the second half. The Warriors shot 58.6 percent from the field to the Hawk's 39.4 percent.
 
Jerry Karczewski went 6-11 from beyond the arc and finished with 20 points and five assists. He tied Corey Blick for most 3-point field goals made in a Warrior career with 278.
 
The Warriors are sitting in second place in the GSAC, one game behind The Master's and two games ahead of Hope International.
 
Westmont returns to Murchison Gymnasium Monday for a non-conference makeup game against Bethesda. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.