By Tim Heiduk
February 1, 2020
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont men's basketball (21-2 overall, 10-1 GSAC), ranked fourth in the NAIA, scored 53 points in the first half against OUAZ (Ariz.) (7-13, 3-8) on its way to a 96-74 victory.
 
Jared Brown drained a 3-pointer just seven seconds into the game to spark the Warriors, one of three triples he hit in the first four and a half minutes.
 
"When Jared Brown hit that three to start the game, I knew it was going to be a good day," Westmont head coach John Moore said.
 
Brown's third triple helped Westmont take an early 21-7 lead. That advantage was extended to 18 when Abram Carrasco hit a 3-pointer of his own, one of six triples the Warriors made in the first 8:13.
 
The Spirit brought Westmont's lead down to 14, but Tyler Austin scored four points in a 9-0 Warrior run that gave Westmont its largest lead of the first half, 25 points, with 4:41 to go until halftime.
 
The Warriors took a 53-32 lead into the locker room. Those 53 points, with the help of eight made triples on 50% shooting from behind the arc in the opening period, are the second most points Westmont has scored in a first half this season, only trailing the 60 it recorded against Maine Fort Kent on Nov. 22.
 
In the first half, the Warriors dominated the boards 29 to 13, including 14 to one in offensive rebounds, which translated to a 14-0 advantage in second chance points in the opening half.
 
Justin Bessard was the biggest reason behind Westmont's domination on the boards in the first half, pulling down nine rebounds before the break. Bessard was one of three Warriors to reach double figures in the first half with his 13 points, along with Carrasco (12) and Brown (11). He corralled one more rebound in the second half to tally his second consecutive double-double.
 
"I thought Justin had his best two back-to-back games of the season," Moore said of Bessard, who finished with 17 points. "Two double-doubles and four assists tonight. He was really composed and played with great poise."
 
After an explosive first half, Westmont's offense didn't slow down much after halftime, as the Warriors just missed out on their fifth 100-point game of the season.
 
Gyse Hulsebosch led the offense in the second half, scoring 14 of his 18 points on the day.
 
"I can't help but talk about Gyse," Moore said. "Gyse was back to his stellar self, back to shooting over 50% from the 3-point line. Guys looked for him and found him. He was four for five, 80% from the free throw line, and almost 60% from the field overall. What gets kind of lost in the shuffle a little bit is Gyse's five rebounds and he led us in terms of getting to the free throw line.
 
"We wanted to get to the free throw line at least 20 times and we were able to do that. Back-to-back games where we shot 20 or more free throws, which we had been number 10 out of 10 in free throws shot in the conference up until that point."
 
Carrasco was not to be overshadowed though, as he tallied 11 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
 
"Bram was Bram once again," Moore said about his junior transfer guard, who recorded his fourth straight game with 22 or more points. "If Bram had his way, he'd be telling me, 'Coach, I don't need to come out.' He loves the game so much and I just the love the way he plays it and helps others become better."
 
Carrasco's four-point play with 15:09 to go in the second half put the Warriors up by 30, 70-40.
 
That lead got up to as many as 33, 85-52, with 8:40 remaining in the game.
 
The Spirit got to within 20 with 1:41 to play, but the game was well out of hand at that point, as the Warriors went on to win by 22.
 
Westmont limited OUAZ to 11.5 points below its season average and Moore highlighted Brown's contributions in that.
 
"Jared had to guard who I think is one of the toughest guards in our conference, Brian Carey," Moore said. "He's the leading scorer in conference play and I thought Jared was special tonight defensively and offensively."
 
OUAZ entered the game with three of the top five scorers in the conference. In GSAC play, Carey averages 20.5 points per game, but was held to 12 against the Warriors. Westmont also limited Shazier Lawson (nine points) to 9.5 points below what he's averaging in conference play. The only player of the trio who scored above their season average was Dimetres Moore, who tallied 22 points, 1.5 more than what he averages against GSAC opposition.
 
"We had a goal of trying to hold those three," Moore said. "They average 57 between them. We did a really nice job on two of the three. Moore ruined our goal, who ended up with 22, but we held Lawson and Carey to 21. Even with Moore's 22, we held the three players to 14 points below their scoring average."
 
With the win, Westmont maintains its two-game lead atop the GSAC. Menlo and William Jessup are tied for second place, two games behind the Warriors. Westmont hosts both teams this week, playing against William Jessup on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before taking on Menlo at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
 
"The two teams that are right behind us are the two teams we get to play," Moore said. "I'm thinking about Menlo and the lead they had against us at halftime. They have been playing very good basketball and have the most wins a row (seven) of any team in the conference right now. William Jessup is extremely talented. Both teams will be high as a kite to play the Warriors."