By Jacob Norling
November 8, 2024
(BILLINGS, Mont.) There were a lot of positives on Saturday night for Westmont Basketball fans, but silver linings are all the Warriors (0-2) left Montana with after dropping their second contest of the weekend to the Saint Martin's Saints (5-0). The Warriors trailed by 12 at halftime, and as many as 16 in the second half.
Still, a resilient effort saw the Warriors pull within four in the final minutes of the contest. In the end, however, a battle-tested Saint Martin's team held the Warriors at arm's length in an eventual 80-72 win for the Saints.
"There were a lot of positives from tonight," assured Westmont head coach
Landon Boucher. "Saint Martin's is one of the best rebounding teams in the West Region, if not the entire Division II level, and we out-rebounded those guys 38-33.
"If you would have told me that we out-rebounded them, went 16 of 18 from the free throw line, had 16 assists, I would have liked our chances in this game."
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, but over the final stretch of action, a one-deficit turned into a 12-point deficit as the Warriors conceded a blur of a 17-6 run before entering the intermission trailing 39-27. Frustration would continue to mount for more than 10 minutes into the second half, when with 7:30 remaining, SMU led by a game-high 16 points at 63-47.
Over the next three minutes, however, the Warriors would go on a 15-5 run to make it a 68-64 game with less than 4:00 remaining. SMU's defense locked it in, however, with the Saints holding the Warriors scoreless for nearly two-and-a-half minutes to put the game on ice. By the game Westmont scored again, the club already trailed by 11 in an eventual 80-72 loss.
"We were right in the game still at the end," reflected Boucher. "We cut it to a two-possession game a couple times, but the margin of error is very small when you're facing really good teams. You can point to the end of the game, but I look back at the 17-6 run back in the first half.
"Still, even coming back out down 12, we weren't out of the game. We could have given in, but we continued to fight. This team has fight."
Individually, the Warriors were once again led by
Drew Ramirez and
Anthony McIntyre, with Ramirez scoring 18 points and McIntyre adding in 17 of his own. Freshman
Will Smith III arrived on the scene with 14 points, and senior
Mason Romano quietly made a huge impact off the bench with eight points, six rebounds, and seven assists.
"Mason had one of those games where he came to play," said Boucher. "He looked really good tonight. Seven assists, as a forward, with no turnovers. We're a team that has to be built on depth, and tonight you saw how that depth can impact a game.
"Will also had a really nice game. Last night was his first college game, but tonight, he looked really comfortable out there, especially with going six of six from the free throw line. He showed a lot tonight."
"We're really close," assured Boucher. "We're excited for our home opener, and I'm hoping we can clean up the details between now and then. It wasn't one thing that killed us tonight, it was just a bunch of little things that ended up being the game.
"We're trying to play Westmont Basketball, and we're trying to produce a type of basketball that allows us to honor Westmont. I thought we did that tonight.
Boucher continued, "I also want to thank the Cross Country team for coming out tonight after their race, with Coach Smelley. I'm looking forward to playing in front of the rest of our fans at home next week."
On Thursday night in Santa Barbara the Warriors will play host to the San Francisco State Gators in Westmont's home-opener. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and links to tickets as well as live coverage will be available on the Westmont Athletics website.
