By Zach DeMarcus
February 17, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) A battle for first place took in the Golden State Athletic Conference took place tonight in Murchison Gymnasium on the campus of Westmont College. The Warriors (21-5, 10-2 GSAC) fell to the Mustangs (26-1, 12-0 GSAC) by a score of 82-101 as No. 8 Westmont Men's Basketball struggled to contain No. 1 The Master's. Jerry Karczewski shot 50 percent from beyond the arc and finished with 24 points in the loss.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "Earlier in the week I said we had to play two great halves. We played the way we've been playing in the second half in the first half, and we did not play that way in the second half."
 
Murchison Gymnasium was packed with fans from both teams creating an exciting environment. None were disappointed as the first half stayed true to all the pre-game hype that an NAIA top-10 matchup is bound to bring. Neither team led by more than five points and there were 13 lead changes in the opening half. Moore said, "It was a great college basketball environment for all the fans."
 
The Master's shot 57.6 percent from the floor and Westmont shot 43.8 percent from the floor in the first half. Westmont found themselves down by a mere two points at halftime with the score 48-50 in favor of the Mustangs.
 
The Warriors scored the first basket of the second half on an and-one layup by Sean Harman – he would hit the free throw and give Westmont their last lead of the game at 51-50. The rest of the second half was all Mustangs. They proved their NAIA number 1 ranking as they raced out to a 23-5 run over the first six and a half minutes of the half.
 
The Mustangs' Brock Gardner led all scorers with 26 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Timothy Soares and Lawrence Russell both added 19 points for The Master's. Hansel Atencia finished with 10 points and seven assists. On the game, The Master's shot 56.9 percent (37-65) from the floor and 40.9 percent (9-22) from behind the 3-point line.
 
The Warriors struggled to respond to the Mustangs' offensive explosion. Moore said, "In the second half, I thought the tempo really went there way. We got out of sorts in terms of who we are – it felt a little rushed out there."
 
Karczewski led the Warriors in scoring with his 24. Olisa Nwachie added 19 points and five rebounds. Ben Okhotin added 14 points and went four of six from beyond the arc. Westmont shot just 32 percent (8-25) from the floor in the second half and 38.6 percent (22-57) on the night. "I thought Olisa did some really good things tonight and Jerry shot it well form the 3-point line," added Moore.
 
Westmont finished with 11 assists to 16 turnovers. Moore said, "I think all five of our losses have been backwards assist-to-turnover ratios. Tonight was a night where our goal was to get 20 assists and we got 11 to go with 16 turnovers. Anytime we're backwards in that ratio we're in trouble as a team."
 
The Master's outscored Westmont 51-34 in the second half – bringing the final score to 82-101. Moore added, "The Master's is a very good team. Even though it's a 19 point loss, we're not too far behind. You saw in the first half what we're capable of. We're going to be able to bounce back from this. I'm very confident about this group of guys.
 
"We have four seniors and we have a lot of experience. It'll be good to get Zac Jervis back. He's going to provide the kind of toughness that we needed out there tonight. I think Zac adds a lot to our team that will help significantly in ways that we needed help tonight."
 
This was Senior Night for Westmont's four seniors in Noah Blanton, David Gunn, Harman, and Karczewski. Moore said, "They've had 92 wins in not even four complete seasons. They were part of a team that lost in the national championship game.
 
"We've been to Kansas City three consecutive times and I think there's really good potential that we're going to go a fourth – that's never been done in the history of Westmont Men's Basketball. For this team to take us to the national tournament four times, it's just an indication of the kind of competitors they are," finished Moore.
 
Westmont will look to move past tonight's loss next week as they finish their regular season on the road in two GSAC contests against Vanguard and Hope International on Thursday and Friday. Both games are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.