By Zach DeMarcus
January 26, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (12-6, 6-4 GSAC) slid into fifth place in the Golden State Athletic Conference on their own as they took down the Firestorm of Arizona Christian (17-5, 5-5 GSAC) this afternoon by a score of 89-81. Late Westmont legend Tom Byron was inducted into the Santa Barbara Court of Champions in a pregame ceremony, and Senior guard Maxwell Hudgins continued the festivities scoring a career-high 27 points to go along with six rebounds and five steals.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "Max Hudgins was leading us in so many different ways. Those five steals were by far his career high."
 
The Warriors needed help from new places as they couldn't rely on senior captain Olisa Nwachie who got into foul trouble early and eventually fouled out having played only 15 minutes. "This is a team game. Sometimes it's guys that practice really hard and it shows up when a struggle takes place in a game. The struggle tonight was Olisa getting those early fouls and fouling out as early as he did. It took a Tristan Lloyd and a Matt Ramon to step in tonight," noted Moore.
 
With 8:23 remaining in the first half, Nwachie hit two free throws to take the lead for the Warriors 26-24. The Warriors would hold on to that lead for the remainder of the contest. At the end of the half, the Firestorm came within four of the Warriors. Hudgins stepped up and nailed a 3-pointer and Desean Scott came up with a steal with eight seconds remaining and promptly slammed the rock home to put the Warriors up 45-36 at halftime.
 
"Desean's play gave us all the momentum at the end of the first half that allowed us to have a nine-point lead at halftime. I thought Desean's play was really important to us," noted Moore.
 
Westmont continued with that momentum to start the second half, and got three straight layups from Hudgins, Kyle Scalmanini, and Nwachie – extending their lead to 15. Westmont would lead by as many as 18.
 
Scalmanini continued his strong play and finished with 17 points and seven assists.
 
The Firestorm would cut the 18-point deficit down to five. Down by 18 with 12:27 remaining, Arizona Christian stormed to a 16-3 run over the next six and a half minutes to bring the score to 70-65 with 5:47 left to play. Arizona Christian was led by Callum Lawson who finished with 21 points.
 
Lawson, along with Shane Carney and Terence Shelby, are averaging a combined 57.6 points per game. The Warriors were able to limit the three to a combined 37 points. Moore commented, "Lawson had a really nice game against us, but the other two we held down to well below their averages. We wanted to hold them to under 40 points and they ended up getting 37."
 
Matt Ramon was a key figure off the bench for the Warriors tonight. "Matt Ramon came on with energy. I thought some of the things that he continues to do for us in the way of offensive rebounding and making key plays was big," noted Moore
 
Ramon finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, and four steals. He was also a key piece in shutting down Arizona Christian defensively.
 
The Firestorm kept trying to jump back into the game, but Westmont wouldn't give in. Up by only six with 2:56 to play, Scalmanini dribbled up to the arc and nailed a three to extend the lead to nine. After a made layup by the Firestorm, Hudgins drained a 3-pointer and was fouled. He completed the four-point play to put Westmont up by 11 with 1:53 left. Westmont would hold on and win 89-81.
 
Moore noted, "Jordan Spaschak is a guy who is able to keep his poise at crucial times. I know when I watch the tape I'll be surprised by all the additional things he did to help make his teammates better. He has a real way in which he makes others on the floor better. I think he did some key things for us."
 
The Warriors had 14 steals in tonight's game which is tied for sixth-best in Warrior history in a single game. It is also, however, the third time this season that the Warriors have reached that number. The other two coming back in November against Portland Bible (Nov. 2) and Occidental College (Nov. 10).
 
Westmont is now 8-0 at home and is on a three-game winning streak. "We said after the Hope International game that we're close. Now we're a little closer than we've been. We've come away with three wins in a row here at home. I think we're getting better.
 
"We're getting a lot of contributions from different people. I think that's what gets us closer to what we're trying to strive for and closer to our potential. We still have a way to go – we're not peaking yet," finished Moore.
 
Westmont hits the road for their northern California trip next week where they will play #24 William Jessup on Thursday and Menlo on Saturday. Those tipoffs are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. respectively.