The 2008-09 season came to an end for Westmont men’s basketball, despite a valiant effort at a second-half comeback at Azusa Pacific on Thursday night. Playing in the first round of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament, the Warriors fell to the Cougars by a score of 85-76.
Azusa Pacific started the game with a 12-0 run in the first three minutes of play, but Dan Rasp nailed two free throws and Evan Haines and Chris Jackson each connected on jumpers to cut the Cougars’ lead in half (12-6) with 14:22 remaining in the first half.
The Warriors kept within 10 points over the next six minutes before the Cougars gained control of the pace of the game and went on a 15-7 run to produce a score of 37-19 with 3:51 to play.
Andrew Schmalbach dropped in the Warriors’ first three-pointer of the game with 3:40 showing on the clock to cut the margin to 37-22. Azusa Pacific, however, closed out the first half on a 13-6 run to take a 50-28 advantage into the locker room.
After shooting just 25.8% in the first half, the Warriors came out on fire in the second half and scored nine of the first 11 points to cut the lead to 15 (52-37) with 17:16 remaining in regulation.
Azusa Pacific pushed the margin back up to 20 on a layup by Dave Burgess and a three-pointer by Dominique Johnson. That’s when Ryan Aijian laid the ball in the net to start a 12-0 run for the Warriors.
After two free throws by Rasp, Haines recorded back-to-back-to-back layups – all the result of offensive rebounds – and Aijian followed with another to make the score 57-49 with 13 minutes to play.
Of Haines’ 18 rebounds, 14 came in the second half.
Azusa Pacific ran the differential back up to 13 points, but Schmalbach connected on another three pointer, Matt LeDuc made a layup and Rasp put in two more free throws to make it a six-point game (62-56 with 10-19 to play.
With eight minutes to play, the Cougars had regained a 15-point lead (72-57), but once again, the Warriors surged back pulling to within five points on a layup by Tyler Dutton (77-72) with three minutes remaining in the ball game.
However, that was as close as the Warriors would get. Dutton and Jackson each recorded another basket, but Azusa Pacific made eight of 10 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Dan Rasp ended the game with 18 points and six rebounds while Andrew Schmalbach added 11 points and three assists. Evan Haines added 10 points to his 18 rebounds while Tyler Dutton notched 10 points and four rebounds.
Dutton ended his collegiate career with 1151 points, an average of 10.8 per game. His 153 career three-pointers puts him in seventh place on the Warrior all-time list.
