Westmont College Athletics

By Tim Heiduk
October 18, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) After losing its top five scorers from a season ago, some might think the Westmont men's basketball team is entering a rebuilding year. Don't tell head coach John Moore that.
 
"I'm not looking at it as a rebuilding year," said Moore, who said he hates the term rebuilding. "I think it's more, let's springboard from where we were last year. Let's outdo last year, which I think we have a chance of being better than we were last year."
 
In fact, Moore is confident in his team's chances of extending its program best streak of five consecutive NAIA National Tournament appearances.
 
"I don't think I've been as excited about a team as I am about this team in a long, long time," Moore said. "This team has the right combination of chemistry and talent and a combination of size and skill."
 
A big reason for Moore's excitement is how quickly the team has gelled together despite the roster turnover.
 
"This group has no cliques," Moore said. "There's no, 'I'm a freshman, you're a senior' kind of stuff. They all travel together in a group."
 
Moore credits senior captain Jordan Spaschak, who will miss the upcoming season due to injury, for helping to build the team's chemistry.
 
"Jordan Spaschak organized an overnight team retreat in the gym where they did all sorts of neat activities," Moore said. "Since Jordan isn't going to be able to play, he's taken on his role as a team captain to the point where he sees it as though he needs to lead in a way that is contributing. The way he has been contributing has caused our team to develop a team chemistry that is at a whole other level than it's been in recent years."
 
The team returns seven players from a season ago and welcomes the addition of another seven, including three transfers. Only 12 will be playing though, as Spaschak is injured and freshman Chase Webb will redshirt this year.
 
"Our roster is a little smaller than we've had in past years, but I really like the number," Moore said. "I think there's probably a top-7 right now, but the eight through 12 guys are very close behind. We have an opportunity to see a lot of growth from this team over the course of the year.
 
"I see people owning their mistakes. There's not a lot of whining. There's appreciation for a good play, even if it's against you. It's competition in all the right ways and camaraderie in all the best ways."
 
Moore is once again joined by assistant coaches Jeff Azain, Rob Goodrow, and Landon Boucher.
 
"I think we've got a dynamite staff," Moore said. "Jeff and I have worked together for all 27 years that I've been here. Rob's been here going on 14 years now. Then Coach Boucher is going into his second year.
 
"I think we've got that perfect blend with a brand new, young guy who's a little more relatable in Landon. Rob does all the recruiting, has a great deal of experience with Westmont basketball, and is an outstanding coach in his own right. As I've said over and over again about Jeff Azain, Jeff could be a head coach ten times over in our league and could've gotten any job along the way. But he's chosen to stay next to me and I'm so thankful for that."
 
Infusion of Talent
 
The team welcomes three transfers to the fold this season in Hunter Sipe, Justin Bessard, and Abram Carrasco.
 
"When you have transfers that are going to be very important for you, it makes it a lot easier," Moore said. "No transfer likes to come in and feel like he's getting beat out by a freshman. I think the expectation for transfers is that they've had at least two years under their belt, they're a little more seasoned, and the expectations are higher. All three of these transfers will play very important roles and minutes for us.
 
"All three of them have had an incredible amount of success and know how to play the game at a really high level."
 
Moore believes these three will help compensate for the relative youth of the team, which will only have one senior on the court this season. That lone senior, Bessard, transferred to Westmont after most recently playing at Bellevue (Neb.), where he earned All-North Star Athletic Association second team honors last season.
 
"Justin Bessard is our interior guy," Moore said. "He's physical, a good inside-outside player. He passes it well."
 
Sipe was named First Team All-Western Region and earned Western Region Defensive MVP honors at South Puget Sound Community College last season after averaging 14.1 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game.
 
"What I've seen out of Hunter has been particularly impressive because of how elite he is as a defender," Moore said. "He's an outstanding defender and covers a lot of ground. Hunter is one of the finest communicators. He will direct traffic out there and anticipate where the ball is going. He makes up for mistakes of other people."
 
Carrasco transferred from Pima Community College, where he is the program's all-time leading scorer. Moore believes he is one of the fastest guards he's ever coached.
 
"He's one of the best passing and scoring guards that we've had here in a long, long time," Moore said. "He's super quick and a great ball handler. He just knows how to find other people."
 
Beyond the three transfers, Moore is especially excited about the team's three freshmen that will take the court this season.
 
Moore said he will be surprised if Jared Brown doesn't start this season and even if he doesn't, Moore expects him to be a key contributor.
 
"He's a lefty and I love lefties," Moore said. "We signed him last year and we knew he was going to be good, but he's been even better than we expected. He's very fast, a great shooter, and passes the ball well. He's another outstanding defender and can pick up full court."
 
Solomon Davis, a 6-7 forward, is another freshman Moore raved about.
 
"He has an upside that is so dynamic and he has a chance to be a very, very good player once he realizes how good he is," Moore said. "He had a practice last week that caused me to salivate, not about the future but of the now."
 
Noah Fernando was labeled by Moore as the "biggest surprise this year."
 
"He is powerfully built," Moore said. "He can score in a lot of different ways and is much, much better in our system than I expected him to be. He's always around the ball."
 
Returners
 
Not to be lost among the incoming talent are the six healthy returning players, whom Moore said the team will need to rely upon this season.
 
Three in particular whom Moore highlighted are Gyse Hulsebosch, Cade Roth and Tristan Lloyd.
 
"I think Gyse is going to have a really neat junior year," Moore said. "And then there's Cade Roth. Those are two guys who I think could both be double-digit scorers. I think Tristan Lloyd is another very important person."
 
Hulsebosch is the highest returning scorer (7.4 points per game) from last season, when he made the second most 3-pointers (34) on the team. He led the Warriors with 25 points in an 85-90 loss to No. 3 Benedictine (Kan.) in the First Round of the NAIA National Tournament.
 
The team also returns three sophomores in Jordan Taylor, Tyler Austin, and Josiah Esselstrom.
 
"They are three people we are hoping can give us some really solid minutes this year," Moore said.
 
Schedule
 
The Warriors begin their season earlier than normal, against Corban (Ore.) at home on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
 
"It feels very, very early," Moore said about the timing of his team's first game of the season. "It used to be Nov. 15 as the starting date for college basketball. Now it's almost Oct. 15 that we're starting. We've known that, so we've practiced longer and have had more Saturday practices. We came back early from four-day. We certainly won't be ready with everything when we play Corban."
 
The headliners on Westmont's nonconference schedule are UC Santa Barbara and Carroll (Mont.), who reached the NAIA National Championship Game last season.
 
"It's still to be determined, but it's looking like it's going to be a countable game," Moore said on the matchup with UCSB. "We love that rivalry. We've probably played them aside from GSAC opponents as much as anyone. It's great that they're willing to put us on the schedule and we can't wait to play them at the Thunderdome.
 
"Carroll was the national runner-up last year and will be the best NAIA team on our schedule aside from our conference teams. They are just outstanding and have a really good, young coach. It's an outstanding program, the best in the Rocky Mountain region right now. It'll be on a neutral court at Hope International. That will be a huge opportunity for us to see where we are."
 
Other notable nonconference opponents include NCAA Division III schools Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental.
 
Westmont will also host the 44th annual Tom Byron Classic, named after the legendary former Warriors' coach who tragically passed away from cancer, on Dec. 30-31. Westmont will play against Calgary (Alta.) and Park (Ariz.). The Warriors' GSAC rival, The Master's, is the other team that will compete in the tournament.
 
The team begins conference play on Dec. 5 on the road against OUAZ (Ariz.). Moore expects it to be another challenging conference season, after the GSAC had five teams reach the NAIA National Tournament last season.
 
"I think The Master's is the team that everyone's chasing. They've been a top-5 team for the past three years," Moore said. "They'll continue to be very, very good based on who they're returning. The rest of the league will be pretty darn good too … Other teams have seasoned talent returning, and we don't. We'll have to learn quickly."
 
The GSAC Tournament begins on March 5 with quarterfinal matchups before concluding on March 7 with the Championship Game. The Warriors hope to reach the NAIA National Tournament for the sixth straight season, in what will be the final year in its current format. Nationals will take place in Kansas City, Mo. from March 18-24.