Playing in the second day of the Westminster Tournament in Salt Lake City, Westmont Men’s Basketball (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season to #9 Westminster by a score of 84-51.
“They played a very nice game against us. Westminster looked more like a top-ten team than they had earlier,” said Moore of the 4-4 Griffins who had lost the day before to College of Idaho.
Dan Rasp led the Warriors in scoring with 17 points and four rebounds. Blake Bender posted 12 points and five assists. Chris Jackson tallied eight points.
“Evan Haines went down the first few minutes of the game and we struggled from that point forward,” said Moore.
The extent of Haines’ injury is not known.
Westminster jumped out to an early 6-1 lead and kept building on its advantage until it led by 22 (38-16) at halftime. The Warriors got no closer than 16 points in the second half and trailed by as much as 36.
After shooting 21.7% in the first half (5 of 23), Westmont warmed up in the second half to make 48% of their shots from the floor (12 of 25). Westminster shot 54.7% for the game (29-53). The Griffins also controlled the glass, out-rebounding the Warriors 39-22.
Westmont returns home to begin Golden State Athletic Conference play on Thursday, December 3 by hosting #8 Concordia as part of a men’s and women’s doubleheader. The women are scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m. with the men following at 7:30 p.m.
