By Tim Heiduk
January 26, 2021
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) A slow start to the game plagued the Westmont men's basketball team (0-2) in its first game action since Dec. 20, as Saint Katherine (2-0) led from start to finish and defeated the Warriors 86-81 inside Murchison Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
 
"We weren't ready to play," Westmont head coach Landon Boucher said. "When it really meant something, we let down. We had let-downs on communication. We had let-downs on slides and rotations. Credit to Saint Katherine. They made some good plays."
 
Westmont found itself down by 16 points with 11:49 left to play in the second half, but fought back to within one point with 20 seconds remaining.
 
"We showed a sense of urgency and crawled back," Boucher said. "We just need to play with that urgency from the tip rather than when our backs are against the wall."
 
The Warriors fouled the Firebirds before the ball was in-bounded, sending the visitors to the free-throw line for a one-and-one. Saint Katherine sank both free throws to increase its lead to three.
 
Out of timeouts, Westmont put the ball in Abram Carrasco's hands. The reigning Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Year drove inside and kicked the ball out to Hunter Sipe in the corner for 3, but his triple could not connect, essentially ending the Warriors' comeback bid.
 
"It was a high screen and Bram made the right play," Boucher said. "Hunter was wide open, but we just missed it."
 
Westmont played the fouling game after that, but it was too little too late for the home side, which faced a 15-4 deficit just six minutes into the game.
 
The Warriors' offense got going a little bit as the first half progressed, reducing Saint Katherine's lead to just one with 4:32 remaining in the half. However, four 3-pointers within a span of just a few minutes extended the Firebirds' lead to 13.
 
The Warriors reduced that to 10 right before the half after Cade Roth's quarterback pass found Tyler Austin streaking toward the basket with the clock winding down. Austin was fouled on the play, but made the layup and completed a 3-point play, giving Westmont some much-needed momentum heading into halftime.
 
That basket seemed to spark the Warriors at the beginning of the second half, as their deficit was halved from 10 to five, 46-51, just three-and-a-half minutes after the break. Sensing its lead slipping away, Saint Katherine kicked into high gear with a 17-6 run to take a game-high lead of 16 with just under 12 minutes to go.
 
Then with the Firebirds up by 14 with seven minutes to play, Westmont went on a 10-0 streak to get back to within four with 4:13 left. That deficit was reduced to three before Jared Brown was fouled on a driving layup attempt, which narrowly rolled off the rim with 20 seconds to go.
 
Had it gone in, an ensuing Brown free throw would have given the Warriors a chance to tie the score for the first time all game. The misfortune epitomized Westmont's luck shooting the ball on the evening.
 
Overall the Warriors shot only seven of 26 (26.9%) from behind the arc, well below its season average from a season ago (41.0%) when Westmont ranked third in the NAIA in 3-point accuracy. The Warriors shot 42.2% from the field, compared to the Firebirds' marks of 49.2% overall and 38.5% from 3-point range.
 
Ajay Singh led the Warriors with 25 points, while Carrasco and Brown each scored 14. Tyler Austin tied his career-high with 11 points of his own.
 
Carrasco narrowly missed out on a triple-double, totaling 11 rebounds and seven assists to go along with his 14 points.
 
"I thought Ajay Singh had a really good first half and he hadn't been able to do that yet, so that was good," Boucher said. "Bram was our leading rebounder with 11. As poor defensively as we were, Bram getting 11 rebounds is something to be said."
 
The two teams are set to play again in less than 24 hours, this time at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
 
"We'll make adjustments," Boucher said on the quick turnaround. "I think we need more time to make those correct decisions, but for right now we just need to be more ready to play with more energy and more assertiveness."