By Jacob Norling
January 17, 2026
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) After losing to Fresno Pacific (7-9, 6-4 PacWest) a week ago tonight Westmont Men's Basketball (8-7, 5-4) returned the favor on Saturday in Murchison Gym, with the Warriors beating the Sunbirds 79-67. A well-spread offense set the tone on Saturday with the team shooting over 50% from the field thanks to contributions from 10 different scorers.
 
After dropping three in row after Christmas break, the Warriors have responded by winning a pair this week.
 
"Playing four out of five on the road is always tough," said Westmont head coach Justin Leslie, "but you know what? That's the hand we're dealt and we have to make the most of it. Everybody has their challenges, but I always say the most important game of the year is the next one. To get that one taken care of today was really big for us before heading onto this next big road trip."
 
A scrappy first half saw the Warriors head into the locker room with a five point advantage (34-29) after leading by as many as 11. Aidan Mandel delivered his typical production with nine first half points, but the most pleasant surprise early on was the play of Caleb Gilbert. Gilbert, who continues to have his number called on a more-regular basis, also collected nine points during the half on four of five shooting.
 
The Warriors shared the ball well during the period, with eight of the ten who saw the floor collecting as least one basket. Nine of Westmont's 13 field goals during the period came off assists, with the bulk of those finds coming from the hands of Trey Thompson, who had six of them.
 
On the other end FPU only shot 36% from the field (9-25), but as the half came to a close FPU landed three of their final four three-pointers to bring the gap back within two possessions leading into intermission. FPU had to depend on its luck from beyond the arc, as Westmont had dominated in the paint during the first 20 minutes, out-scoring FPU 18-8 down-low
 
"One of the things I was most impressed with," reflected Leslie, "was that we did a much better job of not settling. Especially early in that game, we did a great job of getting the best look we could on so many possessions. That, with the way we were sharing the basketball, set a great tone."
 
Five minutes into the second half the lead was back up to nine after a three from Braedon Bigott, a layup from Tyson Monck, a put-back from Gilbert, and a basket through a whistle from Alex Williams. When Williams converted the second half of the and-one, Westmont led 48-38 with under 15 minutes to play. One minute after Williams, it was Bigott who earned three points the old-fashioned way to push the lead to a baker's dozen.
 
By the time of the next media timeout Williams once again muscled his way past the competition, putting Westmont up 15 with under 12 to play (55-40). At that point, Westmont had out-scored FPU 21-11 in the second half. What started to become a beat-down continued over the next minute, as Thompson got himself a bucket before Chase Collins and JV Brown both landed three's to make it a 23-point game (63-40). When a Collins layup in transition made it 65-41, FPU called a timeout to try and cool a Westmont team on a 20-3 run over the previous six minutes.
 
At time of the game's final media timeout the Warriors had slowed enough for FPU to make it a 73-60 contest, but timely free throw shooting and patient play allowed Westmont to win it by a final of 79-67. As a team, Westmont finished the night 31 of 59 from the field, with Gilbert (15), Bigott (13), Mandel (11), Thompson (10), and Collins (10) all finishing in double figures. Thompson once again led the team in assists, dishing out eight of the team's 18.
 
"Give Fresno credit, they made things a bit wild there at the end," said Leslie. "They forced us into some silly turnovers at the end of the day, but when you look at the day as a whole, we were moving the ball and sharing the ball as well as we have all year. To go out there and get 18 assists was as good as we have been all year.
 
"That's back-to-back games where Trey has eight assists. We are a lot better of a team when he's out there, fighting in the paint, and making things happen for his teammates."
 
Leslie continued, "You have to give Caleb a lot of credit tonight, too. He's been fighting, he's been working, and he's been really competitive every day in practice. Caleb has really dug his heels in and he just continues to make himself a presence."
 
At 5:00 a.m. on Sunday the Warriors begin their travel to Hawaii for a three-game road trip against all three PacWest schools on the islands.