By Tim Heiduk
January 2, 2020
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont men's basketball, ranked 11th in the NAIA, outscored NCAA Division I opponent UC Santa Barbara for the first 18 minutes of the second half, but a 17-point halftime deficit proved too much to overcome as the Warriors suffered their first loss of the season, 66-87.
 
"We battled, we really battled," Westmont head coach John Moore said. "We found out a lot about ourselves. They are a very good team. They are bigger and stronger, but I thought we executed well in the second half. We were confident and shot it much better."
 
Justin Bessard led all scorers by tying his Westmont career high with 27 points on 10 for 18 shooting, including three for four from 3-point range. Bessard's counterpart, UCSB's Amadou Sow (20 points), had high praise for the senior transfer's performance.
 
Sow said: "He gave us different looks on their offensive end. We had to guard him out. We had to guard him at 15 feet and you have to box him out. He played an all-around game and that translates to any league pretty much. I think he can play anywhere."
 
Bessard's 15 points in the second half led a Warrior comeback bid, as Westmont got to within 10 of the Gauchos with 13:11 left to play.
 
Abram Carrasco added 11 of his 16 points in the second period to also spark the Warriors.
 
"I thought Justin Bessard and Abram Carrasco were really special players tonight," Moore said. "They came with a fervor. They belong.
 
"They play so well together. I'm so glad we've got a couple guys that have played with each other for a long period of time. They look very comfortable out there together."
 
Bessard and Carrasco kept the Warriors in a game that got away from them in the first half.
 
UCSB took an early seven-point lead, but Westmont's 3-point shooting kept the Warriors within striking distance, helping them pull to within four, 14-18.
 
But after starting four for six from behind the arc, Westmont missed its next six 3-point attempts, as the Warriors fell behind 22-38.
 
"I think we went away from who we are," Moore said. "We went away from some of the offensive things we typically do and dribbled the ball too much. We got a little too dribble-happy and we're a pass-happy team. We just didn't pass it enough in the first half."
 
Cade Roth ended the 3-point shooting drought with 2:33 left in the opening half, but that was the last triple the Warriors would hit before the halftime buzzer sounded, as Westmont trailed 27-44 at the break.
 
Half of the Warriors' made field goals in the first half were from behind the arc, as Westmont shot five for 14 (35.7%) from deep.
 
UCSB dominated Westmont on the boards in the first half, outrebounding the Warriors 23 to nine in the opening 20 minutes. Westmont significantly improved upon that stat after halftime, corralling the same number of rebounds (20) as the Gauchos in the second half.
 
"I think they were a little bit surprised by how poorly they felt they played in the first half," Moore said about his team. "I think they wanted to prove they were a much better team, a much more competitive team on the boards. We did a better job there in the second half."
 
Westmont opened the second period on an 18-12 scoring run, forcing UCSB to call a timeout with 13:41 to play.
 
"We just executed a lot better in the second half," Moore said. "We passed the ball. We moved the ball. We ended up with 17 assists with only 11 turnovers against a Division I program that's pressuring you, making it really hard on you. I liked the way we moved the ball, especially in the second half."
 
Bessard's third triple of the game brought Westmont to within 10 points of UCSB, 48-58.
 
"At that point I thought we were going to steal one. The momentum went our way," Moore said. "I thought Jeff Azain did a nice job calling that zone defense we ran for a little bit. It caused them some problems.
 
"A couple of breaks here and there and I thought if we cut it inside of 10, they would have really struggled. But they did a nice job of not letting us do that and I was really impressed with how they did once we cut it to 10. I thought they executed well and got the right shots for the right guys."
 
The Gauchos responded to the Warrior threat by going on a 10-0 run to take a 71-50 lead with 8:41 remaining. The closest Westmont got the rest of the way was within 16 points, as UCSB went on to win its 10th game in its past 11.
 
"We could've played anybody," UCSB head coach Joe Pasternack said, "but I thought playing Westmont, such a well-coached team, hard playing team, dangerous 3-point shooting team, was the best game for us to schedule to prepare for conference."
 
For the game, UCSB outscored Westmont 14-2 in fast break points and 50-24 in the paint.
 
"From a defensive standpoint, what Westmont does really well is getting fast break points," Pasternack said. "Holding them to two fast break points was huge tonight."
 
This was the first countable game Westmont played against UCSB since Nov. 12, 2004. UCSB improved to 44-5 all-time against the Warriors.
 
"It felt like a conference game," Pasternack said. "It was intense. There were a lot of fouls. They play really hard."
 
The Warriors finished 2019 a perfect 14-0, the second best start to a season in program history behind only the 1983-84 team that began that campaign 18-0. Now the team sets its sights on the resumption of GSAC play on Saturday at Life Pacific. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in San Dimas.
 
"We're a very competitive team and a team that really knows how to play together," Moore said. "I think we have a couple guys who probably didn't have their best games, but they'll bounce back. They are those kinds of competitors who will bounce back. The guys who did play well tonight, they're dissatisfied that we didn't come away with a win and a better performance. Those are the kind of guys that you appreciate having. They're highly competitive and they have high expectations for themselves."