By Jacob Norling
December 2, 2023
 
(HONOLULU, Hi.) Westmont Men's Basketball (4-3, 1-1 PacWest) came within a couple shots of taking both their games in Honolulu, but in the end, the host Hawaii Pacific Sharks (4-2, 1-0) got the better of Westmont 78-74. It was a two-point game in the final seconds of the contest, but Westmont was unable to get a shot off before a turnover forced the Warriors to send the Sharks to the line.
 
From there, Hawaii Pacific converted both free throws to put the game out of reach just before time expired.
 
"This Hawaii trip is tough," acknowledged Westmont head coach Landon Boucher. "All three of these teams are really good. You've got to be that much better if you want success on this road trip. Tonight, we made some really good plays, but we definitely could've been better."
 
Individually, Adrian McIntyre was the best player on the floor for much of the night, scoring a team-high 25 points on seven of 14 shooting. Perhaps most impressively, the younger McIntyre converted all nine shots he had from the free throw line.
 
Behind Adrian, Amir Davis finished with 16 points, and Jalen Townsell finished with 15. Davis also led Westmont with eight rebounds, while both he and Townsell led Westmont with three assists.
 
On the other side of things, Westmont's biggest problem was HPU's Dominique Winbush, who led all scorers with 27 points. Winbush was able to get to the free throw line 15 times, with the Sharks' best player converting 12 of the 15.
 
Westmont trailed by 10 in the final seconds of the first half before Anthony McIntyre knocked down a 3-pointer to give Westmont a spark heading into the locker room. In the second half Westmont turned the tables to lead by as many as six, and as many as five with 6:30 remaining.
 
A 12-0 run over the next four minutes for HPU put the home team up seven at 74-67, but a resilient Westmont surge saw the team tie it once more with 80 seconds remaining thanks to a three-ball from Townsell.
 
Hawaii Pacific then led 76-74 after free throws by Winbush, which was then followed by a Westmont timeout with 3.2 seconds remaining. Following the timeout, a botched inbound led to a turnover and free throws for the Sharks, bringing the game to end by the score of 78-74.
 
"Defensively is where we lost the game," said Boucher. "We got the shots we wanted to and scored enough points, we just couldn't get the stops that we needed to down the stretch."
 
Westmont will finish up their Hawaii road trip on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. HST/9:30 p.m., when they tip things off against Hawaii Hilo.
 
"It's a quick turnaround," said Boucher, "and we need to focus on the areas that we need to be better. We have to turn the page, but we also can't forget it. We have to keep getting better every day. We'll improve from this one."
 
Links to live coverage are available on the Westmont Athletics website.