By Jacob Norling
February 5, 2025
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) If the Westmont Men's Basketball team (9-13, 7-7 PacWest) is able to earn their first PacWest Tournament berth in program history, Wednesday night's win over Vanguard (11-9, 5-9) will not be overlooked. After overcoming a double-digit second half deficit to beat Vanguard 78-75, the Warriors will go to bed in a tie with Concordia (7-7) for the sixth and final spot in the PacWest Tournament. There are six games left to play.
 
"It's never easy to win at Vanguard," assured Westmont head coach Landon Boucher. "I've been down there many times as a player and a coach, and it is never easy to win. I felt like Vanguard outplayed us for most of the night.
 
"In fact, I'm looking at the box now. We had the lead for a minute and 59 seconds, and they had the lead for 36. Then in the last 10 minutes of the game, we held them to just nine points. We just put together stop after stop, after stop in the last 10 minutes."
 
Boucher continued, "We were talking during the media timeout at the 12-minute mark, and we were reminding the guys that we weren't going to cut that lead with just one stop or one make. We had to continue to chip away. These guys did just that."
 
With just-under 12 minutes to play, Westmont trailed by a dozen at 65-53. Five minutes later, they had trimmed only four points off of that deficit. Still, the Warriors kept giving themselves chances by getting stops. At the five-minute mark, a jumper for Vanguard rebuilt their lead to 71-64, but for the Lions, it would be their last basket until the final 30 seconds of the game. In the final five minutes, a relentless Westmont team would simply not be denied.
 
With 2:32 remaining, free throws from Adrian McIntyre brought the score even at 71. Less than a minute later, an acrobatic up-and-under layup from Jarrett Bryant gave the Warriors their first lead since the opening minute of the contest. Over the next minute, two more layups from McIntyre gave the Warriors a four-point lead, allowing Westmont to glance at the finish line as the game entered its final minute.
 
With 12 ticks remaining, a free throw from De'Undrae Perteete put Westmont up 78-73. After a Vanguard layup with seven seconds remaining, however, Perteete was then called for an offensive foul. This gave Vanguard a chance to flip the script with a game-tying three in the night's final moment, but a last-second attempt rattled off the back rim and out. After trailing by 12, Westmont outscored Vanguard 25-10 on their home court to close-out the comeback win of the season.
 
"This game was big on so many levels," reflected Boucher. "This league is so tight that any team you beat is a huge deal. Especially on the road, every single win is significant."
 
Individually, McIntyre dropped 36 points on 13 of 19 shooting, while making eight crucial free throws in nine attempts. Bryant, who may have been the player of the game in the second half, finished with 19 points on eight of 12 shooting to go along with eight boards. Drew Ramirez also finished in double-figures with 12 points, while Mason Romano pulled down a team-best nine rebounds.
 
"Jarrett has turned a corner," acknowledged Boucher. "He held it down offensively when we were really struggling, and he had four blocks and eight rebounds on top of his scoring. He played practically the whole game, and he was really big time tonight. Then Adrian was just extremely clutch down the stretch. He had one of his better games in terms of helping us win."
 
With six to play, four of Westmont's remaining games will be against the current three-best teams in the PacWest. If Westmont wants to play postseason basketball this March, they will have to earn their way in. The first of Westmont's final slate will take place on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in The Murch, when the Warriors come face-to-face with the first-place Point Loma Sea Lions (20-4, 13-1).