By Jacob Norling
December 20, 2025
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (6-4, 3-1 PacWest) took care of the Chaminade Silverswords (5-4, 4-1) on Saturday in Santa Barbara, where the Warriors handed the Swords their first loss of PacWest play by a score of 77-58. For Chaminade it was their third game in five days, and for Westmont, it was their first game following the typically-grueling finals week on campus.
 
"We had one day to prepare because of finals at Westmont," revealed Westmont head coach Justin Leslie. "There are a lot of really good students on the team that care about doing well, so we made it a point not to overwhelm them because of how heavy this load can be.
 
"I was really concerned about how you can fall into the trap of overtraining during finals week, which can lead to things like sleep deprivation. I thought it was more important for us to be mentally, rather than physically sharp this week, so we had a couple days off in the middle of the week. We had, essentially, a walk-through practice on Thursday, so that we could do it well on Friday. We had an hour of practice yesterday, and then we really just focused on ourselves."
 
Early on, Westmont's offense was highlighted by the play of Jarrett Bryant, with the senior beginning his night by making five of seven from the field, including a pair of conversions from beyond the arc. Bryant's 12 early points bought time for the rest of the squad to find its footing offensively, something that has become a common theme early on in Westmont's season. What the club has been able to rely on, however, when waiting for their offense to arrive, is their relentless defensive effort that showed itself once again. By the end of the first half, Westmont had held Chaminade to a shooting percentage of just 25.8% (8-31). It felt like it was just a matter of time before Westmont would be able to evade the pressure that Chaminade was coming with itself, as the Silverswords began to show some cracks in their third game this week.
 
"If you try to run a bunch of plays against Chaminade, they are just going to pressure you and trap you," explained Leslie. "I always like to use the Christmas break time to double-down on fundamentals, especially against a team like this that likes to play fast and aggressive, and turn-you-over.
 
"We had a pretty soft start to the game, being honest. To quote Chaminade, our players were 'shook'. At one of the media timeouts some of their guys were telling our players they were 'shook', and I agreed. I told the guys 'we are'. They had us on our heels, and we just had to take a breath. We had to remember and realize the types of things and types of behaviors on the floor that lead to success in a game like this"
 
"Once we buckled down, it started slowly turning."
 
The game's momentum swung in totality in the final 3:30 of the first half, when the back-and-forth affair saw Chaminade lead 26-25 as the period entered its final minutes. What transpired over the final 2:45 of the half ultimately became an 11-0 run for Westmont, which was first sparked by a pair of baskets from Davon Smith. Smith finished through some contact at the basket to give Westmont its one-point lead back, but then immediately after the make, Smith came away with a clean strip on the other end. Smith then carried it down the floor himself before muscling his way to the basket once more, forcing Chaminade into a timeout to try and squash out the flame sparked by Smith.
 
The stoppage did little to slow the Warriors, as another defensive stop turned into a quick layup from Trey Thompson. Another successful defensive stand was then followed by a three-pointer from Chase Collins, one that the transfer enjoyed for a moment in front of the opposing bench. An attempted three-pointer from Chaminade would not fall in the final ten seconds of the half, which then sent the Warriors on a downhill sprint against the buzzer. This time it was Braedon Bigott's turn to convert at the basket, with the transfer converting a contested layup just ahead of the halftime horn, completing Westmont's 11-0 run that sent them into intermission leading 36-26.
 
"I was really excited to see the depth of our team tonight," reflected Leslie. "Our bench really stepped up against a team who presses a ton. We were able to withstand that pressure because of the depth of our roster tonight.
 
"During that decisive run Chaminade got tired. They were fatigued and there weren't a lot of whistles and we just caught on two sub rotations where we had fresh legs. If you can get one or two of those kinds of runs, there's a good chance you are going to win that game. Tonight, we got two of those."
 
The second of those runs came when the three-point shot that evaded the Warriors for much of the first half finally began to fall in the second. It was triples from Bryant, Collins, and Tyson Monck that saw Westmont stretch its lead to as many as 13 with under 16 minutes to play. The Warriors began the second half three of five from beyond the arc, after making just three of 13 in the first. A minute later, JV Brown joined the party with Westmont's fourth three of the half, this one putting the club up 14. Westmont's bench really got the chance to roar two minutes later, when it was Smith who connected on a long-ball right in front of his teammates. Moments later, a basket from Aidan Mandel put the Warriors up 21 entering a media timeout at the 11:45-mark.
 
By time of the penultimate media timeout the Silverswords had trimmed just five points off of that deficit, with Westmont head into the final minutes of the game still leading 69-53. Minutes after that, the Warriors remained steady and finished off Chaminade by a final of 77-58.
 
"It was just a very mature effort by the team tonight," said Leslie. "We created all the separation that we needed, and we did what we had to do to finish this one off."
 
Bryant was one of four Warriors in double-figures, as the senior led the team with 18 points. The remaining three were Bigott (16), Smith (11), and Trey Thompson (10). Mandel finished just shy of a double-double as well, as he finished with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
After the holidays Westmont will resume their season on January 3, when the Warriors will host Azusa Pacific at 7:30 p.m.
 
"The guys get back the 29th," shared Leslie, "and when that time comes, we are going to continue to work on ourselves and our fundamentals. This is the time of the year where I tell the guys they get to feel like it's like to be a professional. It is the only time of year where you don't have any other responsibilities, and your only responsibility is on basketball.
 
"We are going to use that time to grow, improve, and ultimately prepare to defend our home floor against APU."