By Tim Heiduk
February 6, 2020
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) A career night from Abram Carrasco led the #4 Westmont men's basketball team (22-2 overall, 11-1 GSAC) to an 88-73 victory over #21 William Jessup on Thursday in Murchison Gymnasium.
 
Carrasco set career highs in a Warrior uniform with 31 points and 10 assists. The junior transfer, who had 19 points and six assists in the first half, recorded his second double-double of the season.
 
"If I calculated correctly, it was somewhere in the 50's of how many points he was responsible for," Westmont head coach John Moore said. "It's not any one guy, as other people have to do things that allow you to score, like screen or make sure that Bram (Carrasco) gets open. But he was very special and a real competitor tonight."
 
Westmont trailed for much of the opening part of the first half, but turned it on toward the end, as the Warriors hit eight 3-pointers to take a 52-38 halftime lead. More impressively, Westmont committed zero turnovers in the first half.
 
"I thought that was what set the tone, even though they cut it to four at one point in the second half," Moore said of his team's ability to take care of the ball in the first half.
 
Moore was also impressed with his team's defense, which forced William Jessup into 11 first half turnovers.
 
"I thought once (Luis) Medearis went off for his 14 points, then for the rest of the half as well as all of the second half, we held a guy who looked like he was having a game of his career," Moore said. "It looked like he was going to get 40, but we held him down. Bram (Carrasco) had a lot to do with that as well."
 
Despite Westmont's strong conclusion to the opening period, William Jessup caught fire to start the second half, reducing its deficit from 14 down to just four, after hitting three triples on consecutive possessions.
 
"I thought when they cut it to four, we were locked in and we established ourselves at that point," Moore said.
 
But after a Westmont timeout, the home Warriors went on an 8-0 run to restore their double-digit lead, 65-55, with 13:15 left in the second half.
 
Westmont led by double figures the rest of the way and by as many as 19 with 2:09 to play, as the Warriors won against their namesake for the ninth straight time and 14th out of 15 tries.
 
For the game, Westmont outscored William Jessup 40-12 in points in the paint.
 
"When we established Justin Bessard in the second half, I thought we did a very nice job of getting it into him," Moore said. "He asserted himself well."
 
Westmont won the turnover battle, committing only seven turnovers compared to William Jessup's 21, translating that to 31-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The home Warriors also did not concede a single fast break point.
 
Brown (12 points), Bessard (11 points), Hunter Sipe (10 points) and Gyse Hulsebosch (10 points) joined Carrasco by scoring in double digits. Cade Roth had a near double-double with his nine points and eight rebounds.
 
With the win, Westmont clinched a spot in the GSAC Tournament and maintained its two-game lead atop the conference standings over Menlo (15-6, 9-3), the team it hosts on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
"They're playing as well as anyone," Moore said about Menlo. "They've got eight wins in a row. They're very confident at this point. To get a win at The Master's, in the way that they got the win, I think they're going to come in here hungry as all get out."