By Jacob Norling
February 15, 2025
 
(OAKLAND, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (12-13, 10-7 PacWest) has been unstoppable this February. After their latest win, a 65-62 comeback victory against Academy of Art (14-9, 10-5), the Warriors have now made it five straight. After starting 5-7 in conference play, and giving themselves very little room for error, the Warriors have not only won the games they could not afford to lose. They have also begun to prove themselves against the best teams in the PacWest.
 
If Westmont's late surge does indeed lead to a PacWest Tournament berth, which could become official as soon as Wednesday night, the Warriors have proven something, maybe even to themselves. This team can beat anybody in the PacWest on any given night.
 
"Art's is a really athletic team," said Westmont head coach Landon Boucher. "They are as athletic as anybody in our league. In the first half I felt like we were executing well, but we just weren't hitting shots we have been hitting the past couple games.
 
"Shots weren't falling, and with Art's being a great team, we found ourselves in a hole. Our guys just kept pounding the pavement, though. They just kept at it. We went into halftime down six, but the poise and composure of our team was really impressive. And to make that clear, I'm not talking about our coaching staff. I'm really talking about our guys. The atmosphere in that locker room just felt really poised, and really confident. Right from the first moments of the second, it just felt like we out-played 'em."
 
The Warriors trailed on Saturday by as many as nine in the first half, and as many eight several minutes into the second half. At the 12:30 mark in the second half, ART U still led by six after holding the Warriors at arms' distance for the majority of the night (41-35). A layup from Adrian McIntyre and a pair of free throws from Jarrett Bryant pulled the Warriors within a pair, before another basket from Bryant saw the Warriors draw even with 10:53 to play (41-41).
 
Two more McIntyre free throws put the Warriors up for the first time in the second, before ART U answered with a four-point surge of their own to reclaim the lead. The two sides traded baskets for the next handful of possessions, before a dunk from Bryant put Westmont ahead 51-49 with 6:15 to play. From that point on, the Warriors were never trail again. ART U had multiple chances to draw even or take the lead, but the Urban Knights could not buy a clutch basket down the stretch. The Warriors could then smell blood in the water with 3:15 to play, when a three-pointer from De'Undrae Perteete put Westmont up five, giving the club their first multi-possession lead of the half.
 
A minute later, McIntyre collected a layup to put the Warriors up seven, before Drew Ramirez landed a pair of free throws to put Westmont up 61-53 with just 45 seconds to play. The Urban Knights were awarded an absurd amount of whistles in their favor in the final 45 seconds, but ART U could not take advantage of the extra lives. A meaningless three at the buzzer made the final score look prettier than it actually was, but all that mattered was Westmont walked off the floor with their fifth in a row by a score of 65-62.
 
"We just played in one play at a time, one stop at a time," reflected Boucher. "That was the first game all year that we played zone, basically for all 40 minutes. Guys really executed well when you consider that was their first team fully committing to a zone all year long. I thought it was Art's trouble in the second half. The difference was we just found stops. To hold a team like that in the 30's down the stretch on the road is really impressive."
 
McIntyre led Westmont with 24 points on nine of 16 shooting, while Bryant collected 18 points to go along with four rebounds. A quiet, but key contributor off the bench was Aidan Mandel, who scored eight points while pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds in 22 minutes.
 
"Aidan was very key tonight," assured Boucher. "Our bench has been so good lately, with both Remington and Aidan recently. Aidan, especially, was really key tonight. To have a bench that is dependable feels like the difference in our play lately. Aidan made some big baskets, but defensively, he was nails."
 
Boucher continued, "JB again was really spectacular for us. He was steady and also made some really impressive finishes for us throughout the game. The attention is always going to be on Adrian. With that, Adrian did a great job of finding others, and then the guys that he found, would find the next guy."
 
Westmont will celebrate its senior night on Wednesday at 7:30, when the club hosts the Vanguard Lions in Murchison Gym.
 
"It'll be exciting in The Murch on Wednesday night," said Boucher. "The last game in The Murch for this season, the last game in The Murch for these seniors. We can't wait to go to war for these guys on Wednesday."
 
Not only will the Warriors be chasing down a potential postseason clinch that night, but Adrian McIntyre will be chasing some history of his own. If McIntyre, who averages an even 28.0 points-per-game, scores six points on Wednesday, he will become Westmont's all-time single season scoring champion. Adrian will enter Wednesday having scored 701 points. Adrian, in all likelihood, will come face-to-face with Dan Heinrich's 69 year old record of 706 points on Wednesday night.
 
You will not want to miss that moment.