By Jacob Norling
February 3, 2024
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (7-13) trailed by eight at halftime on Saturday, before exploding on offense in the second half. Against the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs (10-13), Westmont out-scored their opponent by 21 in the second half, leading to an eventual 80-67 win.
 
UCSC's lead expanded in the first half to as large as nine with 2:12 remaining, but quickly in the second half, the Warriors erased the deficit and never looked back. A pair of jump shots from Anthony McIntyre opened the scoring in the second half, and then Amir Davis finished a shot off the glass to immediately pull Westmont within a pair.
 
A few minutes later, at the 15:43 mark, Mason Romano knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Warriors their first lead at 43-42. With 12:30 to play a brief 5-0 run allowed UCSC to lead 51-50, but a minute later, McIntyre knocked down a shot from beyond the arc to put the Warriors up 53-51. Westmont would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
 
Over the final ten minutes the Banana Slugs suffered an extreme dry spell offensively, while Westmont put up nearly 30 points during the same stretch. This led to Westmont's lead getting as large as 20 points with 2:21 remaining, when Adrian McIntyre knocked down a pair of free throws.
 
Santa Cruz ended the game on a too-little-too-late 7-0 run, but in the end, Westmont took care of business to re-enter the win column with an 80-67 victory.
 
Individually, Anthony McIntyre continued his chase for the PacWest scoring title with a 26-point performance on 10 of 11 shooting from the field. Behind McIntyre, Mason Romano added in 16 points of his own, while Davis and Jarrett Bryant each added 10. Davis also led Westmont with eight rebounds and four assists.
 
The Warriors will return to action on Thursday night in the Bay Area, when they take on Academy of Art at 7:30 p.m. Links to live coverage will be available on the Westmont Athletics website.