By Jacob Norling
November 22, 2025
 
(MONMOUTH, Ore.) Westmont Men's Basketball (1-3) could not overcome their poor shooting performance on Saturday night in Monmouth, where the Western Oregon Wolves (2-2) defeated the Warriors 68-50. A night that saw Westmont not convert on a three-pointer until the second half also coincided with a night where WOU's best player scored more than 30 points. It was a bad equation for a Westmont team that has dropped three of its first four.
 
"That might be one of the worst shooting nights I've been a part of," said Westmont head coach Justin Leslie. "Some of the looks we got early were of good quality, and when they didn't fall, it really sapped our energy. In the grand scheme of things, that's the biggest disappointment.
 
"Making or missing shots should never dictate our effort, our energy, or our intangibles we bring to the table. As a result, it burned us."
 
A slow start offensively sent Westmont into the night's first media timeout having made just one of their first five looks from the field. Those misses, along with WOU making four of their first seven, made it an 8-2 contest early. Westmont would go on to miss five more field goal attempts before another would fall, with just their second conversion from the field falling with 12:08 remaining in the half. That make was a layup from Michael Olaly, but another three-minute dry-spell sent Westmont into the period's final nine-plus minutes trailing by double-digits (16-6). At that moment Westmont was 2-14 from the field, a line that included misses on all nine of their three-point attempts up to that point.
 
A couple baskets in the paint from Jarrett Bryant and Davon Smith kept Westmont within three possessions, with WOU leading 19-10 at the half's penultimate media timeout. Westmont's continued drought from three-point land coincided with a pair of makes from beyond the arc for Western Oregon, making it 25-14 as the period entered its final stretch (3:46). WOU had made five of their first 14 from three-point range, while Westmont was empty-handed on their first dozen three-point attempts.
 
The final minutes of the half offered no solace for the Warriors, who went into the locker room trailing 33-16. After 20 minutes Westmont had made just six of 32 from the field (18.8%), with their three-point drought extending to 0-14. Westmont also struggled to keep tabs on WOU senior Jadin Penigar, who entered intermission with 18 points.
 
The Warriors turned the ball over only twice during the first half, but little went right during those possessions. Westmont also avoided sending Western Oregon to the line during the entirety of the period, but Westmont also made only four of the eight free throws they were granted.
 
"Give those guys credit, they started making some shots early to get ahead of us," said Leslie. "We just couldn't get the lid off of the basket."
 
Hope began to build a bit when Westmont scored the first six points of the half, thanks to baskets from Chase Collins, Jarrett Bryant, and Trey Thompson. The early makes forced WOU into a timeout before the first media stoppage, as Westmont got back within 11 at 33-22 (17:48). Finally, it was Bryant who made Westmont's first three-pointer of the night with 16:40 remaining. Western Oregon, however answered with one of their own immediately leading into the half's first media timeout. With 15:41 to play, Westmont was still faced with an 11-point deficit despite some hot shooting (36-25).
 
Baskets from Bryant and JV Brown pulled Westmont back within nine, before Penigar responded with a pair of floaters and a three-pointer to make it a 16-point lead in a blink (45-29). Brown and Bigott then drilled a pair from beyond the arc, making it a 10-point game with under 11 minutes remaining (45-35). The Warriors continued to chip away moments later, when Bryant converted on a second-chance opportunity to pull the club within eight (45-37).
 
A couple minutes then passed without a basket from Westmont, when their momentum was halted again once Penigar landed another shot from long-range. With under eight minutes to play, Peingar's fourth triple of the night made it 48-37. A minute later his fifth made it a 12-point game (51-39), and gave the senior 31 points with still more than six minutes to play. The night began to slip away from there, as by time of the final media stoppage Westmont still trailed by 14 (56-42).
 
The score went final minutes later, with Western Oregon winning by a tally of 68-50. Westmont ended the night just 19 of 65 from the field (29.2%), and three of 24 from three-point range (12.5%). On the flip side, the Wolves made 12 of 28 from deep, while they also enjoyed a 34-point performance from Penigar.
 
"We did enough on the defensive side of the ball to at least give ourselves a chance," reflected Leslie. "I am not saying we played a perfect defensive game, but we did enough to have a shot. Where we let ourselves down tonight was on the offensive end. We did not make good decisions, and they did a nice job of killing the temp of the game.
 
"Western Oregon did a nice job of not allowing us to play at the tempo we wanted to, and they defended their home floor."
 
Westmont will fly to Alaska next weekend, where they will compete in the Tundra Tip-Off in Anchorage.