Westmont men’s basketball had a rough start to the season, falling 75-48 in an exhibition game at Pepperdine. The Warriors kept it close through the first 30 minutes but struggled in the final ten.
“I liked the way we competed in the first half. I thought we were pretty aggressive,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “Then there were a couple of points where they made a couple of threes and I thought we were very tentative in the second half.”
Down 5-2 early in the first half, Andrew Schmalbach nailed a three-point to produce a five-all tie with 17:13 to play. The score remained unchanged for more than four minutes until Mychel Thomspon – the son and namesake of the Lakers’ radio color commentator, who won two NBA titles playing with the Lakers – drained a three-pointer to put the Waves up 8-5.
Joshua Lowry scored on a layup to put Pepperdine up by five, but Dan Rasp answered right back with his own layup to make the score 10-7 at the 13:08 mark. With just under 12 minutes remaining in the half, freshman guard Jordan Sachs drove the baseline to record a layup and put the Warriors within one (10-9).
The Waves answered with a layup on the ensuing possession to recapture a three-point margin. Westmont brought the ball down the floor and once again Sachs drove for the basket. A foul on the play sent Sachs to the line where he drained two free throws to make it a one point game. The Warriors then took the lead (13-12) on an Evan Haines jumper with 9:53 remaining on the first half clock.
Pepperdine recaptured the lead with a 5-0 run consisting of a layup by Thompson and a long-range bomb by Caleb Willis. With 6:15 to play, Blake Bender made one of two free throw attempts to pull the Warriors to within three points (17-14). Haines connected on a turn-around jumper with 5:39 to make the score 17-16 before Schmalbach shot from the right corner and drained his second three-pointer of the half to put the Warriors up 19-17.
“I would have liked for Andrew to take a few more open shots,” said Moore. “Our desire was for him to take 12 shots and he took 11, but I think there were a couple of more open shots that he could have taken.”
The Warriors could not hold on to the lead as the Waves produced an 11-1 run to close out the half and give Pepperdine a 28-20 advantage at the intermission.
The first ten minutes of the second half was played nearly equal, with the Waves holding a 46-37 advantage at the midway mark. But a 15-0 run by Pepperdine over the next five-plus minutes put Westmont in hole from which it would not recover. The Waves outscored the Warriors 47-28 in the final frame.
“They shot 72% in the second half and we didn’t defend,” acknowledged Moore. Pepperdine made 18 of 25 and only missed seven shots in the second half. They were six for seven from the three-point line and had non-three point shooters who were making threes. I thought Pepperdine did a great job in the zone and, obviously, we have not spent enough time working on our zone. That will come with time.”
Despite the disappointing ending, Moore found positives to take from the game.
“Evan Haines had a whale of a game,” said Moore. “I thought the most positive thing was how Evan played. I was real encouraged by that.
“For a freshman, Jordan Sachs played with great poise and great comfort. He was good out there and I think it is going to be a very nice player for us.”
The Warriors were led by Rasp with 18 points and four rebounds. Haines tallied 10 points and six boards. Thompson led the Waves with 21 points and six rebounds.
“As our captains said to our team at the end of the game, we put this one away and we move forward,” said Moore.
Westmont will play another exhibition on Wednesday when they travel to Palm Desert to take on Cal State San Bernardino in a seven o’clock game.
