Westmont Men’s Basketball finished off the Las Vegas Shootout with a 90-74 win over top-ranked Robert Morris (Ill.) on Saturday night to improve their record to 2-0. Junior forward Dan Rasp tallied 29 points, five assists and four rebounds for the Warriors. Senior guard Andrew Schmalbach added 21 points, three assists and three rebounds.
“This was a great program win for us,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “Robert Morris is the number one team in the nation and as athletic as most any we have ever played, including Division I programs. We had the lead basically from start to finish. It’s a real accomplishment for our guys. I’m very, very proud of them.”
Rasp made 9 of 15 shots from the floor and 9 of 10 from the free throw line to lead the Warriors in scoring. Schmalbach made 7 of 10 from the floor including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc.
“Andrew is now 10 of 13 from the three-point line after our first two games,” pointed out Moore.
“The leadership I saw in all of our captains was really impressive,” continued the coach speaking of Schmalbach, Chris Jackson, John Miller and Matt LeDuc, “but Chris Jackson had a leadership game extraordinaire. He had a focus of steely determination. His eyes were so focused on insuring that we did not have any let-ups. Against a team that pressures all over the court, C.J. had seven assists and two turnovers. He also made a couple of key baskets late in the game.”
In addition, Jackson recorded nine points and seven rebounds.
“We battled and we shot it exceptionally well,” said Moore. “We got really good play out of a lot of people. I would not say that anybody had a down game. When that happens, generally good things happen for your team. I think we are a very confident team right now.”
Westmont shot 54.7% from the floor (35 of 64) and 41.2% (7 of 17) from three-point territory.
“We played so well defensively that Robert Morris stopped pounding it in the post and they started taking shots that were a little bit desperation shots. They crashed the boards hard, but they were taking mostly contested shots. They shot 39% from the floor and 27% from the three-point line. Any time you can hold a team with their kind of ability to go inside to just 39% from the field is a sign that you are contesting a lot of shots.”
With Westmont up 11-10 just three and one-half minutes into the game, Schmalbach hit the first of his long-range buckets to start an 11-4 Warrior run. But the Eagles whittled down the Warrior advantage to one point (28-27) on a three-pointer by Robert Jones (11 points, 4 assists). A Warrior turnover led tot another three-point basket by, this one by Yamani Ball, giving the Eagles a brief two-point lead of 30-28.
Rasp tipped in a missed layup and then hit a jumper to regain the lead for Westmont. Evan Haines then scored two of his 12 points on a layup to give the Warriors a 34-30 margin with 6:37 to play in the first half.
The Eagles tied the game at 34 on free throw by Jacolby Hardeman (7 points, 6 rebounds) and a dunk by Lester Ferguson (9 points), but Haines hit another jumper to put Westmont up 36-34. Another Ferguson dunk tied the game at 36-all. Schmalbach connected from three-point range again to start an 11-3 run which resulted in a 47-39 halftime lead for Westmont.
Schmalbach opened up the second half with another long-range bomb and the Warriors began to establish a margin the Eagles would not overcome. Up 66-58 with 8:50 to go in regulation, freshman Jordan Sachs scored on a jumper which started a 19-6 run over the next six minutes. With 2:57 to play, Westmont held its largest lead of the night at 21 points (85-64).
A key to the victory was the Warriors ability to compete on the boards with a team that started four players who ranged from 6-7 to 6-11.
“They pounded the glass and pounded the glass and yet we were only three back from them in rebounding (41-38). I think that made a big difference, we were able to rebound with a very, very good team,” said Moore. “John Miller was Mr. Energy. It was unbelievable how bouncy he was and how many important rebounds he got for us.”
Miller ended the game with eight points and six rebounds.
Westmont will host Cal Poly Pomona next Saturday, November 21, in its home opener. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
