Westmont made a strong showing in its Tom Byron Classic opener on Tuesday, defeating Concordia of Nebraska 86-66 in Murchison Gym.
The Warriors got off to a hot start thanks to on-target 3-point shooting from Blake Bender, who connected on his first three and finished the game with 18 points. Westmont jumped out to a 11-1 point lead and never looked back. The Bulldogs never got closer than 8 points after that.
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Dan Rasp also had a nice start with two alley-oop dunks set up by Chris Jackson and Matt LeDuc. Considering his past performances, Rasp had a quiet night with just 12 points and five rebounds. He is the reigning two-time Tom Bryon MVP, but this Warrior squad is much more balanced than years past.
For the third straight game, Westmont had five players in double figures: Jackson 10, Bender 18, Schmalbach 16 and LeDuc 15.
“People were keying on Dan and it freed up our other guys,” said Westmont coach John Moore, adding, “(Rasp) is as happy for his teammates as he is for himself.”
On the other side, Evan Haines was strong on defense denying the Bulldogs from having a strong inside game with five blocks and nine rebounds, limiting Concordia to 15-for-42 (35.7%) on shots inside the 3-point line.
With just over two minutes to go, Evan Kucera cut the lead down to ten and it seemed the Bulldogs would be content with that deficit, until Andrew Schmalbach drained his three point shot with five seconds left, and the Warriors went into the locker room with a 40-27 lead at halftime.
While Schmalbach started the game cold from the 3-point line missing his first three, he finished hot making his last four.
“The team has confidence in me to keep shooting,” Schmalbach said, adding, “I got the misses out of the way.”
The senior finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Chris Jackson also did a wonderful job distributing the ball, finishing the game with 11 assists and 10 points. All together the Warriors shot well from the floor, finishing 35-for-61 (57.4%) and 9-for-18 (50.0%) from the 3-point line.
The Warriors will take on Dutch of Central (Iowa) tomorrow in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. in Murchison Gym. The Consolation game will take place at 5:30 p.m., featuring Westminster (Pa.) and Concordia (Neb.)
