After seven games and more than 4,000 miles on the road, Westmont College returned to the friendly confines of Murchison Gym on Saturday night for its home basketball debut. The Warriors didn’t disappoint the crowd of 458 as Dan Rasp scored 21 points in 21 minutes, leading the Westmont men to an 85-67 victory over Hope International.
The Warriors (4-4, 1-1) have never lost to the Royals in 22 meetings.
Rasp, a 6-6 sophomore from Camarillo, ignited a 25-6 run early in the Golden State Athletic Conference contest by scoring seven straight points, capped by a dunk. Coach John Moore put in five new players at that point and they helped stretch the lead to 32-12 on a long bounce pass from Chris Jackson that led to a Tyler Dutton layup.
“It felt good to have the home crowd behind us,” said Rasp, who made 7-of-9 shots. “We have awesome supporting fans and it was fun to finally be at home again.
“We did well defensively, although we had some breakdowns. We executed well on offense and we got ourselves easy baskets, which is what we wanted to do.”
It was the first home appearance for Westmont in the renovated Murchison, a nearly 40-year-old facility that got a new floor, new bleachers and a new sound system in the off-season. The new Kammerer Court, named for the Warriors’ all-time winningest coach, Chet Kammerer, will be dedicated on Saturday, Dec. 13 before the Warriors’ 7 p.m. game against Cal State San Bernardino.
Bobby Fenske, a 6-8 junior, contributed 13 points and six rebounds off the bench while Matt LeDuc had 11 points on 5-6 shooting. Jackson, a 5-9 junior point guard with superior passing skills, had seven assists, five rebounds and four points on a pair of high-arching runners near the basket.
“He’s awesome to play with,” said Rasp. “He’s the best passer I’ve ever played with.”
Westmont shot 60 percent (18-30) and led 44-27 at intermission before Hope staged a rally. The Royals pulled within eight, 48-40, on a 3-point bucket by Buai Tut with 14:48 to play.
“I didn’t call timeout because I wanted to see if we could work through it,” said head coach John Moore, who’s in his 16th season. “All we needed to do was execute a little better. I thought we took some hurried shots. This offense is made for execution, it’s not made for quick shots. We had a couple guys take shots early from the 3-point line on a fastbreak that were not in their wheelhouse.”
Westmont regained control with a 15-2 run that started with a follow shot by Blake Bender. It was capped by a LeDuc dunk and a 3-pointer by Nasa Sete that boosted the lead to 63-32 with nine minutes to play.
Marcellus Cullors led all scorers with 23 points and eight rebounds for Hope (1-5, 0-2) while Tut had 21 points.
The Warrior bench outscored their counterparts from Fullerton 20-2.
“I thought Blake played one of his best games,” said Moore. “And Matt LeDuc plays with such incredible energy. He’s always a guy who seems to pick us up, no matter what the situation is, he seems to be able to score. He plays with great fervor. Andrew Schmalbach shot it well from the 3-point line (scoring all nine points on 3-6 long-range shooting) and we didn’t even get Tyler on his best night but he did some good things defensively.
“And Dan Rasp is a very, very special player. I felt bad for Evan Haines (who was in foul trouble and fouled out with three minutes left). He deserved a little bit better than that. His four blocked shots really helped turn the tide in the first half.”
Westmont will take on Bendigo of Australia in an exhibition game on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
