By Ron Smith
February 3, 2018
 
(ROCKLIN, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (18-4, 8-1 GSAC) maintained its grip on second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings by recording an 80-71 win over The Warriors of William Jessup (17-8, 3-6) on Saturday afternoon in Rocklin.
 
Olisa Nwachie led the way for the Warriors with 20 points and seven rebounds. Jerry Karczewski went 4-9 from three-point range as he tallied 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Sean Harman added 14 points, 3 rebounds and three assists.
 
"We did a really nice job of executing," said Westmont head coach John Moore. "A good indicator of that is our assist-to-turnover ratio. We had 14 assists and only six turnovers. Between Zac Jervis, Jerry Karczewski and Sean Harman we had 12 assists and only one turnover.
 
"We got off to a good start, then Jessup came back and took a nine-point lead in the first half," reported Moore. "We closed it down to a one-point lead at halftime."
 
With Westmont trailing 25-16, Ben Okhotin landed a shot from beyond the arc to start the Warriors' journey back into the game. Westmont outscored Jessup 15-7 in the final seven minutes and 20 seconds of the first half to go into the locker room down 32-31.

Just 41 seconds into the second frame, Karczewski drained a three to give Westmont its first lead (34-32) in over 15 minutes of play.
 
The lead changed hands three more times before a jumper by Nwachie with 14:05 remaining gave Westmont the lead for good. Westmont did not allow Jessup a field goal for nearly four minutes while going on a 14-4 run to take a 56-47 advantage.
 
In response, Jessup's offense awakened and put up a 6-0 run to pull within three points (56-53) with 9:23 remaining.
 
However, a 3-pointer by Karczewski and a layup by Jervis but the Warriors back on top by eight (61-53). Though Jessup's Wilson Lashills would respond with a three of his own, that was as close as Jessup was able to get the rest of the way.
 
"Between Olisa, Jerry and Sean, they scored 37-points in the second half after only scoring 14 points between them at halftime," noted Moore. "This team continues to surprise me in ways that are completely unexpected. Like Kyle Scalmanini getting eight rebounds for us and leading us with four offensive rebounds. Eight total rebounds coming from a guard is quite impressive."
 
Scalmanini also tallied nine points.
 
In other GSAC action, #2 The Master's (23-1, 9-0) defeated Menlo (15-9, 2-7) by a score of 95-84 to remain one game ahead of the Warriors in the conference standings. Ninth-ranked Hope International (21-3, 7-2), narrowly avoided an upset by San Diego Christian (4-14, 1-7), winning 91-89 in double overtime. As a result, the Royals remain in third place in the GSAC standings one game behind Westmont with five to go.
 
Vanguard (14-10, 4-5) picked up a 61-59 win over Arizona Christian to hold on to fourth place. William Jessup is in fifth place, one game behind Vanguard. A tie for sixth place, and the final spot in the upcoming GSAC Tournament, exists between Menlo and Arizona Christian with San Diego Christian one game back.
 
The 2018 Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament will take place March 2-5 at Arizona Christian in Phoenix. With tonight's win, Westmont has guaranteed itself a place in the GSAC Tournament.
 
Next week, Westmont will host Arizona Christian on Thursday night and San Diego Christian on Saturday night. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on both evenings.