By Zach DeMarcus
February 23, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (16-9, 10-7 GSAC) dropped a tough one tonight as Hope International (19-9, 10-7 GSAC) spoiled the Warriors' senior night festivities by taking an 81-75 victory.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "First of all I'm disappointed for our seniors. We typically win home games and we typically win home games on senior night. This is unfortunately not one of those. We played very uncharacteristic of the team that wears the white uniform when it comes to being at home."
 
The Warriors jumped out to an early 10-4 lead with the game three and a half minutes young. Olisa Nwachie kicked of the scoring off with a layup. Kyle Scalmanini followed with another layup. D'Lano Beckles hit a jumper for Hope. Maxwell Hudgins responded with a 3-pointer. Hope's Eric Toles converted on a jump shot, and Hudgins followed with another three.
 
Hope, like they would all evening, responded with a 7-0 run to take a one-point 11-10 lead with 14:24 left in the first half. Hope would lead by as many as five in the first half.
 
Westmont was able to close out the first half well. With five and a half minutes left in the opening half, the Warriors were down 23-27. They would go on an 11-2 run over the next three minutes – nine of Westmont's points came from the hands of Nwachie. Nwachie would finish with a game-high 26 points.
 
Westmont built on their momentum in the last two minutes of the half. With the score in their favor at 34-32 and 2:02 left to play, Scalmanini hit a 3-pointer and then went two of three from the line after being fouled from beyond the arc. After a Hope bucket, Hudgins knocked down his third three of the half to put Westmont up 42-34 at halftime.
 
Moore said, "I thought Max was just fantastic. There were things that nobody would have seen that he called out at key times. I thought Max was a fantastic leader. He played like a captain and played hard. We just didn't get Max enough shots. We weren't able to find him at key times."
 
Westmont was unable to utilize the halftime momentum that they had worked so hard for as Hope ran out to a 7-0 run to open the half – cutting Westmont's lead down to one. Beckles gave Hope their first lead of the second half with 14:20 left to play as he nailed a 3-pointer to bring the score in Hope's favor to 50-48.
 
Moore noted, "The way we started the second half was exactly the part that was very uncharacteristic of Westmont teams. I've got to take a good bit of the blame for that. We came in with what we thought was a very good game plan out of halftime and we didn't' execute that."
 
Hope went up by six with 12:38 left to play. The Warriors responded with a 9-0 run of their own over the next minute and a half to regain the lead at 59-56. Gyse Hulsebosch hit a three, Nwachie followed with a layup, Cade Roth converted on a layup, and Nwachie finished the short run with two made free throws.
 
The Warriors were never able to put the Royals away, however, as Hope continued to respond. They quickly hit a jumper and a three to take back the lead at 61-59 with 8:34 to play. Hudgins took back the lead for the Warriors on a made three to make it 66-65 with 6:52 left – this would be the last Warrior lead of the night.
 
Jonathan Guzman hit a jumper in the paint to give Hope the 67-66 advantage with 4:45 left and they would not relinquish the lead. Westmont struggled over the last five minutes to find good shots and share the basketball. "I don't think our guys are selfish, but we looked like a selfish team out there at key times of the game," commented Moore.
 
Matt Ramon finished with just five points and five rebounds – four of which were offensive, but his defensive presence and hustle was felt throughout the game "Matt wanted this one badly. He was playing fiercely and tough. He made big plays and made his free throws at key times. I liked the way Matt played. I thought he did a lot of good things," commended Moore.
 
It wouldn't be enough as Westmont fell by a final score of 81-75. "We just did not play the type of game that we needed to play against Hope to win," said coach.
 
In a pregame ceremony, seniors Hudgins, Nwachie, Ramon, and DeSean Scott were honored at center court for their contributions to the program throughout their careers.
 
Around the GSAC, #24 Arizona Christian (22-7, 10-7 GSAC) defeated #17 William Jessup (20-9, 11-6 GSAC) 90-87. Menlo (13-13, 9-8 GSAC) took down OUAZ (4-23, 1-16 GSAC) 96-71. San Diego Christian (9-17, 5-12 GSAC) triumphed over Life Pacific (10-16, 4-13 GSAC) by a score of 79-70. #10 The Master's (24-5, 13-4 GSAC) took over sole procession of first place with a 78-64 victory over #6 Vanguard (24-5, 12-5 GSAC).
 
The loss moves Westmont back into a three-way tie for fourth place with Arizona Christian and Hope International. The Golden State Athletic Conference regular season concludes on Thursday. Westmont will play host to Life Pacific with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
 
"We'll recover from this, but it's a very disappointing loss. I think it's a great opportunity to see how we respond to a tough loss like this," finished Moore.