By Jacob Norling
February 7, 2026
 
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Westmont Men's Basketball (13-9, 10-6 PacWest) rode an electric second-half surge to a 79-62 win over the Vanguard Lions (11-10, 7-8) on Saturday night in Murchison Gym. It was a low scoring first half for both sides on Saturday, with and then it was a low scoring half for only one of the two in the second. After trailing 30-27 at halftime, the Warriors turned it around to out-score the Lions 52-32 in the final period.
 
The game was still very much up for grabs after the first 20 minutes, with both teams displaying very poor shooting across the board. Both squads shot below 40% as a team, but it was Vanguard who went into halftime with a narrow 30-27 advantage. Westmont made only four of their first 13 from three-point range, while the Lions landed eight three-pointers in the half. For Westmont, an unsung hero in the first half was Caleb Gilbert, who had eight points thanks to a couple makes from long range and a perfect trip to the line.
 
By the time of the first media timeout of the second the Warriors appeared to be in some trouble, as a trio of three-pointers landed for Vanguard. Entering the first stoppage, Westmont had to look up at a 41-29 deficit. Before the next media timeout, however, the Warriors arrived on the scene. A 15-3 run saw the club erase the entire deficit in the span of less than four minutes, with some clutch free throw shooting from Braedon Bigott helping to bridge the gap. There were also the quiet key minutes played by Tyson Monck on both ends, as a bucket, four boards, and a steal from the first-year Warrior helped inject some life into the club.
 
On the other side of a media timeout Jarrett Bryant broke loose for a go-ahead basket, giving Westmont its first lead of the second half. The run continued one possession later, as Davon Smith weaved his way to the basket, making it 48-44 Westmont with 11 minutes to play. The run seemed to not stop for what must have felt like an hour for Vanguard, as the Warriors continued to push the deficit with stops on defense, as well as some buckets from Michael Olaly and Trey Thompson. Practically every Warrior got in on the fun by the time of the 9:06 mark when Vanguard was forced into a timeout. At that point, a 25-4 turnaround had the Warriors up 54-45.
 
Monck then made it double-digits on the other end of the timeout, with a patient play at the rim putting the Warriors up 56-45. Then, with 7:20 remaining, Gilbert put an exclamation point on his productive evening, throwing down an emphatic dunk to give Westmont a dozen-point lead. Once Bryant drilled a shot from long range a minute later, the Warriors saw their lead stretch to 13 at 65-52.
 
The Lions got back within nine with under five minutes to play, but with 3:30 to play, Bryant connected on another shot from beyond the arc. That basket felt like an early dagger, with Westmont entering the final stretch up 68-56. The lead just kept on growing from there in the final minutes, as a sucker-punch of a second half propelled the Warriors to a 79-62 win.
 
After shooting just 37% in the first half, Vanguard was held to an even lower clip of 31% in the second (9-29). For Westmont, the club followed up a 39% first half (9-23) with a 61.5% second (16-26). The Warriors took care of business from the free throw line, where the men connected on 22 of their 25 attempts.
 
"They play 100% man-to-man so the biggest key for us today was getting to the rim," said Westmont head coach Justin Leslie. "In the first half, we were getting too many outside-out plays, but then in the first 12 minutes of the second, we didn't have a single attempt from three that didn't first touch the paint.
 
"That led to free throw attempts, and in the second half we went 17 of 19 on our free throws. We were getting the most efficient shot in basketball which is the free throw, then we got layups, and then we were getting kick-out three's. It was just great to see that sort of resolve throughout the second half. It was a complete second half for us on both sides of the ball."
 
Bryant led Westmont with 19 points on seven of 12 shooting, while Thompson scored 17 points in large part due to nine makes from the charity stripe. Looking down the box score a bit, Gilbert finished with an even ten points, while Monck had four points, four rebounds, and four assists. The efforts from two of Westmont's depth pieces did not go unnoticed.
 
"Both Tyson and Caleb brought something on the defensive side tonight," nodded Leslie. "We really needed it. We were getting driven earlier, but then putting in some bigger, more physical bodies across from some of their slashers was really helpful for us through the game. Then give both of those credit, because they also made some plays on the offensive end. I was proud of both of them for stepping up tonight."
 
Westmont will return to The Murch on Wednesday night, when the Warriors host the Concordia Irvine Golden Eagles at 7:30 p.m.