By Jacob Norling
February 11, 2026
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (14-9, 11-6 PacWest) was able to outlast the Concordia Golden Eagles (14-10, 11-7) on Wednesday night in Santa Barbara, where the Warriors won a conference contest by a score of 76-65. The two sides were knotted in almost all categories for 30 minutes on Wednesday, but in the final stretch of the ballgame, the Warriors pulled away to even the season series with the Golden Eagles.
 
After 20 minutes there was hardly any separation between the two, with Westmont heading into the locker room leading 36-35. Concordia had shot 14 of 31 during the half, while Westmont shot nearly an identical mark of 14-30. Neither shot particularly well from beyond the arc, but CUI made five (of 13), while Westmont made only three in a dozen attempts. Even the rebounds were nearly identical, with Westmont grabbing 18 compared to CUI's 17. Entering the second half, it appeared as though the tight margins may very well decide the contest.
 
Westmont led by as many as eight in the opening minutes of the half, but Concordia went on an 8-1 run heading into a timeout just after the 12-minute mark. At that point, in a 49-48 game, both sides had converted exactly 19 field goals. CUI in 43 attempts, Westmont in 42.
 
A little separation finally came as the game entered its final 10 minutes, after three-pointers from Jarrett Bryant and Chase Collins followed a successful trip to the line by Trey Thompson. With 7:45 remaining at the game's penultimate timeout, the Warriors led 59-52, as the Golden Eagles were held scoreless for over two minutes. Thompson fed Caleb Gilbert on a transition basket a couple minutes later, and then when CUI landed a three to strike back, Thompson responded by landing another three-ball of his own.
 
After Bryant got loose for a layup once more, Concordia was forced into a timeout as Westmont took a 10-point lead for the time on Wednesday (66-56, 5:05). Things began to feel tense again with 2:30 remaining, when a three-point shot fell for Concordia to once again make it a two-possession game (66-60). After an empty possession for Westmont, CUI then made it 66-62 with 1:45 remaining. With 1:18 remaining, Braeden Bigott made the home crowd exhale briefly when he landed a pair of shots at the free throw line.
 
Entering the final minute of the contest Westmont led 68-62, and then Gilbert brought the house down when he successfully threw down a lob at the rim off of a pass from Bryant. At that point, it was 70-62 with under 50 seconds to play. After some strong free throw shooting from Bigott to ice it, the Warriors walked off the floor winners by a score of 76-65.
 
In the field goal category the Warriors never got much separation, but where they did run away from CUI was in the free throw category. The Golden Eagles made only six of 12 from the stripe, whereas the Warriors impressively landed 17 of 20.
 
"We finally started pushing pressure on the rim in the second half," explained head coach Justin Leslie. "We only shot 43% in the second half, but a lot of that was because the start of the second half was just abysmal. They were doing a good job of keeping us away from the paint, but we finally started putting some pressure on the rim and it lent itself on getting to the free throw line. That was huge.
 
"I have to give credit to our guys in the second half, we didn't settle for our shots and we forced them to settle for theirs on the other end. As the game wore on we got in good rhythm with our attacks, and to put 40 points on them in a half is a really good second-half performance."
 
Bigott made seven of eight from the free throw line, while Thompson, who led the squad with 20 points, made seven of nine. Elsewhere, Aidan Mandel led Westmont's effort on the boards, where he went up and brought down 14 rebounds while also scoring 11 points.
 
"Trey and Aidan are the obvious ones who standout tonight," noted Leslie. "Those two were absolute anchors for us tonight on both ends of the floor. I was really proud of them and I was also pretty proud of the fact that we had five scorers in double-figures. The way we play, with our style, we can be pretty tough to account for when we have five scorers in double-figures."
 
Westmont will head up north this weekend, where they'll take on the Dominican Penguins on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.