By Ron Smith
November 23, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Abram Carrasco put up 20 points to help lead Westmont Men's Basketball (8-0) to a 73-69 win over Carroll of Montana (3-2). Carrasco, made seven of 11 shots from the field, including two of three from 3-point range. He also went four of five from the charity stripe.
 
"We had pointed to this game, knowing that Carroll was the national runner-up last year, as a measurement game as to how we were at this point in the season," offered head coach John Moore. "To come down here on a neutral court and beat a team as good as Carroll is a very good sign for our group of guys at this point in the season."
 
That accomplishment was all the more remarkable as the Warriors played without one of their starters.
 
"Cade Roth had an emergency appendectomy today," reported the veteran coach. "I think he was on the operating table as our game ended. We inserted Noah Fernando in the starting line-up and he did some really good things out there.
 
"Noah got a lot of back-cut layups and that opened up our three-point shooting very well. Because of his ability to get to the basket, our guys were able to find him for easy passes to him. I thought he defended well and played a good first collegiate start, filling in admirably for Cade."
 
With a pair of threes by Hunter Sipe (10 points) and Carrasco, the Warriors jumped out to a 10-4 lead. The Warriors maintained a led throughout the first half, taking a 36-42 advantage into the locker room.
 
Three minutes into the second half, Carroll's Eetu Villa drained a 3-point bucket to give the Saints their first lead of the night at 44-41. Westmont did not regain the lead until 11:25 remaining on the clock when Sipe connected again from long range to put the Warriors in front 51-49.
 
With a free throw by Dennis Flowers and a jumper by Jovan Sljivancanin, Carroll held a 52-51 lead midway through the final frame. Seconds later, however, Jared Brown (15 points) recorded an old-fashioned 3-point play when he scored on a layup and was fouled by Flowers. The result was a 54-52 advantage for the Warriors.
 
Carroll would tie the score at 54 and again at 56, but would never again take the lead. A 3-pointer by Gyse Hulsebosch with just under five minutes to play advanced the Warrior lead to 66-59.
 
With a bit more than two minutes to play, the Saints cut the Warriors lead to just two (68-66) with a jumper by Sljivancanin. One minute later, Justin Bessard (16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) converted an and-one play to give the Warriors a 71-66 lead. However, Dane Warp drained a three with 53 seconds left on the clock to make it a two-point game.
 
Those, however, would be the last points the Saints would score. Carrasco added a couple of free throws before the final buzzer to account for the final score.
 
"We got a lot of good play out of quite a few players," said Moore. "Jared Brown played well in front of his home crowd. Bram Carrasco was very special tonight. Hunter is always dependable. We couldn't take him out of the game, he played 40 minutes.
 
"We got really good bench play out of Tristan Lloyd, Gyse Hulsebosch and Tyler Austin. Gyse only scored three points but he was instrumental in helping us run our offense. Tristan got two big baskets, a three and a very important layup at a key time when the game was back and forth. Abram found him on a fast break and dished it off to Tristan. He was running the floor hard and got an easy layup out of it.
 
"One of our goals tonight was to shoot more free throws than our opponent and we shot 10 more. We defended very well, holding a very good shooting team to 27% from the 3-point line. Their best player, Dane Warp, a potential All-American, came in averaging 21 points and we held him to 10.
 
"We executed well and found a way to keep our turnovers down. I'm very encouraged by the way we play."
 
The next test of the Warriors will come on a road trip to the Grand Canyon State for the start of Golden State Athletic Conference play. On Thursday, December 5, Westmont will play in Surprise, Arizona against OUAZ. The following Saturday, the Warriors will take on Arizona Christian in their new facility in Gilbert.