Westmont Men’s Basketball (6-2) posted a 78-61 over the Keelhaulers of Cal State Maritime (7-8) to hand Warrior Head Coach John Moore the 400th win of his career. The milestone came in Moore’s 500th game as Westmont’s head coach.
“It is a privilege to come back and coach at my alma mater and coach in the footsteps of a hero of mine – Chet Kammerer,” said Moore. “Overall, it’s just a sign of having good teams over a long period of time. I think this is going to be one of those teams that I will remember for a good bit of time. I’m proud they were able to help me get this 400th win. It is really more about the players than it is about me, but it is good to be able to do that with Westmont and for Westmont.”
Andrew Schmalbach led #22 Westmont with 19 points while making four of six attempts from beyond the arc. Evan Haines and Matt LeDuc each scored 14 points while Chris Jackson and Blake Bender added another 10 points each.
The Warriors trailed for most of the first half as they struggled to match Cal Maritime’s intensity.
“Cal Maritime came out and they played great,” said Moore. “They played well and with a lot of energy.”
Down 24-19 with three minutes remaining in the first half, Moore called for a full court press which disrupted Cal State’s offense. After two free throws by LeDuc, Haines scored on a jumper to pull within one (24-23). Then the press resulted in a steal by Bender who forwarded a pass to Haines. Haines converted the fast-break layup to give the Warriors a 25-24 lead.
The Keelhaulers’ Eddie Williams (10 points) recaptured the lead for Cal Maritime on a layup. Bender then hit a free throw to tie the game at 26-all at the half.
“The press gave us some energy,” said Moore. “It caused us to work harder and we had some good things happen out of that.”
The second half did not start well for the Warriors who saw the Keehaulers post an 8-0 to start the second fame.
“They are a very confident squad and we had to kick it into gear after their 8-0 run,” said Schmalbach. “We turned it up a notch and went on our own run.”
The Warriors scored 18 of the next 19 points to take control of the game. Defensive pressure helped to keep Cal Maritime away from the hoop.
“We extended our zone a little bit and ran a 1-3-1 zone a little bit in the second half,” said Moore. “Then in our 3-2 (zone) we just tried to find their shooters and I thought we did a good job of that.”
“They had a couple of very good shooters,” said Schmalbach. “We had to get out on them. We forced them into a lot of turnovers and that turned into a lot of easy buckets for us.”
“I thought Matt LeDuc and Andrew Schmalbach played very confident basketball,” said Moore. “Matt has played three very good games in a row against Concordia, against Hope and this game. Our seniors did a very nice job. John Miller was a defensive presence for us out there. Andrew had a very nice second half. He was hungry to shoot three-pointers.”
Westmont will remain in the Bay Area over the weekend and take on Menlo in Atherton on Monday at 4:00 p.m.
