By Zach DeMarcus
February 24, 2018
 
(FULLERTON, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (22-6, 11-3 GSAC) led with five and a half minutes to go but a 24-6 run by the Royals of Hope International (25-4, 11-3 GSAC) to end the game proved to be too much for the Warriors to overcome.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "I thought we fought really hard. We stormed back in the beginning of the second half and fought really hard to take the lead and just missed some shots that we have been making in late-game situations. Credit to Hope with their defense."
 
Both teams played strong defense in the first half. Westmont limited the Royals to a mere 32 points in the opening half – Hope has averaged 43.3 points in the first half on the season. However, the Royals limited Westmont to 22 points in the half – well below the 37.4 they normally average.
 
With 9:37 remaining in the first half, the game was tied at 17. Hope finished the half on a 16-5 run to go into halftime with a 32-22 lead over the Warriors.
 
It took only four minutes of the second half for the Warriors to erase the 10-point deficit. Jerry Karczewski hit a jumper followed by a 3-pointer. Olisa Nwachie and Sean Harman followed with back-to-back layups to bring the Warriors within one. Andrew Bournes hit two free throws for the Royals. Karczewski responded with a made free throw and Nwachie followed with a dunk to tie the game at 34 with 16 minutes remaining.
 
Hope responded over the next seven minutes to build back a seven-point lead with 9:06 remaining. Liam Hunt and Daniel Young both recorded double-doubles on the evening for the Royals. Hunt finished with 10 points and a whopping 18 rebounds. Young also added 10 points while grabbing 11 boards.
 
Westmont again erased the deficit going on a 10-2 run to grab a one-point lead with 5:25 remaining. Karczewski hit three free throws, Zac Jervis converted on a jumper, and Kyle Scalmanini was fouled on a made layup – he would make the and-one free throw to finish the run and give Westmont the lead at 51-50.
 
Moore said, "I thought we played with great toughness. Our defensive toughness against an outstanding team was as good as it has been all season long. Hope has a lot of pieces."
 
Karczewski led all scorers with 22 points to go along with his five rebounds. Nwachie was the only other Warrior in double figures as he added 16 points and five rebounds.
 
The Royals again went on a run to finish the half. In the remaining 5:25, Hope scored 24 points to Westmont's six – going on to win by a 17-point margin. Moore said, "I think, without trying to make excuses, our guys got a little fatigued after an overtime game on Thursday and then this one – where our starters had to play a lot of minutes.
 
"We had trouble containing them on the boards Last time we were able to outrebound them and this time they got us by a significant margin (Hope-45 Westmont-25).
 
"We finally got Zac back and we lost David Gunn as he wasn't able to play tonight. We needed to have a full complement tonight and fatigue was a factor that entered in a little bit. With that said, Hope plays great defense and they're hard to beat on their floor," finished Moore.
 
Tonight's game ended the regular season for both teams and the outcome gives both teams an 11-3 record in the Golden State Athletic Conference – good enough for a second-place tie behind first-place The Master's. Because Westmont and Hope were 1-1 head-to-head this season, the second seed for the GSAC tournament is given to Hope due to the fact that Hope went 1-1 against first-place The Master's and Westmont went 0-2.
 
Westmont finishes the regular season as the number three seed heading into the GSAC Tournament. Arizona Christian will host the tournament on their campus in Phoenix from March 2 through March 5.
 
On Friday March 2, third-seeded Westmont will play sixth-seeded William Jessup (19-11, 5-9) at 5:00 p.m. MST (4:00 p.m. PST) in game one. Fourth-seeded Vanguard (17-13, 6-8) matches up against fifth-seeded Menlo (19-10, 6-8) in game two at 7:30 p.m. MST (6:30 p.m. PST).
 
Second-seeded and 13th-ranked Hope International will face the winner of the Westmont-William Jessup game in semi-final number one on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. MST (4:00 p.m. PST). First-seeded and 1st-ranked The Master's (27-2, 13-1) will play the winner of the Vanguard-Menlo game in semi-final number two at 7:30 p.m. MST (6:30 p.m. PST).
 
The teams will get an off day on Sunday and the championship game is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. MST (7:00 p.m. PST) Monday, March 5.