The theme for the Westmont men’s basketball team this year is depth, and Wednesday night’s Tom Byron Classic championship game was a testament to that. For the fourth straight game, the Warriors had five players in double figures as Westmont overcame Central College 80-75 in Murchison Gym.
It was the Warriors’ third straight win in the tournament, and their 20th in the Classic’s 34-year history.
“??We expect to win,”? said senior guard Matt LeDuc.
The score was close in the beginning of the game, but with 9:58 left in the first half guard Andrew Schmalbach scored a layup to give the Warriors a seven-point lead. Central came back, however, with a run of its own. A 3-pointer by Jack Bruns and three straight layups by Miguel Ley, James Chapline, and Chris Lehmann gave the Dutch a three point lead late in the period.
The Warriors battled right back to go up two late in the half and looked to take that into the locker room, but Ley had other plans. As time expired, he threw up an off-balance three-point shot which found the glass and went in, giving the Dutch a 38-37 lead.
The second half proved good for the Warriors, as the Dutch could not overcome Westmont’??s well-spread offense. LeDuc would nail his first three shots from beyond the arc, giving the Warriors much needed momentum. He went on to finish the game with 11 points. Also scoring in double figures were Chris Jackson (14), Andrew Schmalbach (14), Dan Rasp (14). and Evan Haines (11).
Central’??s Ley drained a couple free throws with 36 seconds left to bring the Dutch within one, but just seconds later Jackson answered with his own pair of free throws. With two seconds left, freshman Preston Branson helped seal Westmont’??s victory, nailing a pair shots from the charity stripe.
Another theme throughout the two-game tournament was the defensive presence of Evan Haines. To go along with his 11 points and six assists he had 13 rebounds and five blocks.
“??I try to anticipate. A lot of times that is how you make those plays defensively,” he said.
Coach Moore also lauded the defensive play of Haines, saying “??If we can get the rest of our guys to play defense like him, we are going to be a top defensive team.”
Blake Bender, Schmalbach and Jackson all were picked to the All-Tournament Team. Making Tournament MVP this year was Ley, who finished with a game-high 28 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and two steals. He averaged 23.5 points in the tourney.
