By Zach DeMarcus
March 21, 2019
 
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) Westmont Men's Basketball (18-11) gave #3 Benedictine (Kan.) (31-3) all that they had tonight in the First Round of the 82nd annual NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship. The eighth-seeded Warriors came up just short as they fell by a score of 85-90 to the top-seeded Ravens. Gyse Hulsebosch had a career night with 25 points and Kyle Scalmanini was close behind with 24 points.
 
Westmont head coach John Moore said, "I've had quite a few teams come here to the national tournament. No team has played harder than this team – there are teams that have played just as hard. There was no give up in them. If this game was going two minutes longer, I think we might have snuck one out."
 
The Warriors ran out to a quick 10-4 lead to open the game. Colby Nickels hit a jumper for the Ravens. Scalmanini hit a jumper for the Warriors, followed by a Jaiden Bristol made jump shot for the Ravens. Maxwell Hudgins then hit a three, Olisa Nwachie and Matt Ramon hit back-to-back jump shots to give Westmont he early lead.
 
The Ravens tied the game at 14 with 13:31 to play in the first half, but Scalmanini responded with a 3-pointer and a 12-footer to snag a 19-14 advantage. The Ravens punched back with a 3-pointer and jumper of their own to even the score at 19 with 11:41 to play.
 
With the score knotted at 21-21, the Warriors went on an 8-0 run. Hulsebosch hit a three and then came up with a steal and a laid the ball in on the other end. Jordan Spaschak found an open Hulsebosch who nailed another three for his eighth-straight point – giving Westmont what would be their largest lead of the night at 29-21 with 8:50 to go in the first half.
 
Benedictine continued to show their top-seeded worth as they never rolled over. Over the next three minutes, Benedictine went on an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game at 29 all.
 
Westmont was up by four with 1:15 to play in the first half and Eric Krus hit a jumper in the paint and was fouled. He made the free throw to complete the three-point play. Hulsebosh nailed his third three of the half with 39 seconds left to put Westmont back up by four. Again, the Ravens responded as Thomas O'Connor buried a three of his own with four seconds left on the clock to bring the score to 38-37 in favor of Westmont at halftime.
 
With the exception a few short spurts in the opening two minutes, Benedictine did not lead in the first half. The score was either tied or the eighth-seeded Warriors carried the lead throughout the opening frame.
 
Benedictine recaptured the lead a minute and 46 seconds into the second half. Two made free throws from Colby Nickels put the Ravens up 41-39. Hudgins hit a three to give Westmont the 42-41 advantage with 18 minutes to play, but that would be the last for the Warriors as O'Conner hit a three to give Benedictine the lead at 44-42 with 17:18 to go – the Ravens would lead the remainder of the contest.
 
Westmont, however, never gave up the fight. They were down by seven with 16:10 left and went on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to one with 13:33 to play. With the shot clock winding down and the ball lose at the top of the 3-point line, Hulsebosch quickly retrieved the ball, turned, and flung a 30-footer that kissed nothing but net for one of his career-high six 3-pointers to end the run. The sophomore's 25 points was also a career high.
 
Moore noted, "Gyse was unbelievable. He played the biggest game of his career on the biggest stage. He was kind of unconscious at times out there. He made play after play after play. He has a lot to look forward to in the future."
 
Again the Ravens jumped out to a nine-point lead at 62-53 with just over 10 and a half minutes to play, but Westmont fought to get back within two at 62-60 with seven and a half left. Bristol then hit three straight jumpers for the Ravens. Krus buried a three and Benedictine snagged a 71-60 advantage with five minutes to play.
 
Bristol, who averaged 9.8 points per game on the season, finished with a game-high 36 points for the Ravens. He shot 12 of 18 from the field, three of five from 3-point range, and went nine of 11 from the charity strike. "Bristol really hurt us," commented Moore. "We had no answer for him, he was fantastic."
 
Benedictine completed a 13-1 run with 3:10 left to play to extend their lead to its largest of the game at 14 with the score 75-61.
 
Westmont trailed by 14 with a minute and five seconds left and still continued to battle. Scalmanini hit two free throws, Bristol followed by going one of two from the line, Nwachie then hit a jump shot, and Krus hit two free throws for the Ravens. With 49 seconds to play, Scalmanini nailed a three to bring Westmont within 10 at 82-72.
 
Nickels was quickly fouled and hit both free throws. Hulsebosch followed with a three to cut the deficit to nine with 37 seconds left. After Benedictine went one of two from the line, Scalmanini hit a jumper – deficit down to eight. Nickels hit a jumper in the paint for the Ravens with 19 seconds left, and Hulsebosh quickly came down and buried his sixth three of the game to pull the Warriors within seven with 16 seconds to play.
 
Benedictine again went one of two from the line and Nwachie grabbed an offensive board and score the put back with eight seconds to play. Adam Kutney iced the game with two made free throws. Scalmanini still drove down for the Warriors and hammered home a three with four seconds left to bring the score to its final at 90-85 in favor of the Ravens.
 
Westmont finished the game scoring on their last eight possessions and hitting four 3-pointers inside the final minute of the game.
 
"I said before the game, 'the team with the fewest turnovers and the rebounding percentage was going to win.' I didn't want to predict that correctly, but they outrebounded us by three (35 to 32) and had two fewer turnovers than we did (seven to nine).
 
Moore noted, "Benedictine is a very good, well-coached team. For us to play them in the way that we did and to have led a good part of the game, I'm very proud of our guys. Especially proud of our three seniors. I just told Olisa, Max, and Matt that it's been an incredible pleasure to coach them for four years – two years in Matt's case.
 
"What a rise to the occasion Max Hudgins and Matt Ramon had in their senior years. They were guys that nobody really knew anything about. For them to play the way that they did this year and here on a national stage is pretty amazing.
 
"Olisa is one of a kind. I'm not sure I'll see another player like Olisa. He's incredibly talented. He's gifted in terms of how he loves people. He's a great communicator. All three of them will be life-long friends. I'm really pleased in that regard," commented Moore.
 
When asked about what his team did well tonight, Moore said, "I thought offensively we executed. I thought our game plan was a very solid one. A lot of credit goes to Coach Azain, Coach Goodrow, and Coach Boucher. They really put us in a very good place. We had a lot of time to prepare and our guys were well prepared.
 
"Our younger guys had a chance to see what the national tournament is like in a setting where there were a lot of Benedictine fans in the house. This was a home court for them. I don't know how many they had, but it felt like five or six thousand and we silenced them for a good part of the game. I'm very pleased with my team," finished Moore.
 
The Warriors finish their season with a record of 18-11. This is the fifth straight season the Warriors have appeared in the national tournament – the longest in school history.