By Jacob Norling
November 30, 2024
 
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (2-5) experienced their final tune-up before conference play on Saturday night, when they hosted the Warriors of Life Pacific (1-5) inside Murchison Gym. Westmont held several double-digit leads throughout the night, but had to fend off several runs from Life Pacific in an eventual 78-66 win for the home team.
 
"It feels good to be back in the win column," said Westmont head coach Landon Boucher. "Especially, before league, it was important to go in with a win."
 
Westmont experienced the highs and lows of sharing the basketball on Saturday, where they cancelled out 20 turnovers with 22 assists. When passes did find open men the Warriors were lights out, making 32 of their 56 attempts from the field (57.1%). Leading the way from a passing standpoint was once again senior Mason Romano, who not only led Westmont with eight assists, but also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Elsewhere, Adrian McIntyre solidified his place as the top-bullet point in opposing team's scouting reports entering the PacWest season. This is because in the pre-conference slate, McIntyre has at times looked unstoppable. On Saturday, the senior dropped 25 points on 11 of 13 shooting, giving McIntyre an average of 26.7 points-per-game thus far.
 
Westmont's third senior, Drew Ramirez, had one of his finest nights this season as well, as the spark-plug scored 19 points on seven of eight shooting, which included five makes from beyond the arc. Jarrett Bryant joined Ramirez and McIntyre in double-figures, as the junior scored 13 points on six of nine shooting.
 
"In terms of the way we were executing on offense, I thought things were getting better," offered Boucher. "Mason, again, continues to make big plays. I think that's his third game in a row with at least eight rebounds. He had several assists as well, and he really helped us on both ends all night long.
 
"Drew was huge tonight, too. There were times where Life drew pretty close, and he came up with a big tip-in and a big three right after that. Drew really relieved a lot of pressure tonight. He gave an incredible effort on a night where we needed it."
 
A quieter note in the box score was the continued improvement of freshman Kevin Anigbogu, who grabbed seven rebounds to go along with five points. One of the highlights of the night was an electrifying alley-oop finish for Anigbogu off of a lob from McIntyre.
 
"Big Kev just gets better and better each game he plays," noted Boucher. "He's not only getting rebounds, but he's affecting a lot of shots as well."
 
"Collectively, we're just trying to improve," explained Boucher. "The league is going to be tough every single night, but that's exciting. It'll be fun to test ourselves on a tough road trip to start. We've had a couple really tough road experiences already, and I think that's going to benefit us a ton as we get going.
 
"Our mindset from here on out is every team is 0-0."
 
Westmont begins PacWest play on Thursday night at Fresno Pacific, where the Warriors will tip-off against the Sunbirds at 7:30 p.m. Links to live coverage will be available on the Westmont Athletics website.