Despite 16 points from Dan Rasp that put the junior forward over the career millennial point mark, No. 22 Westmont Men’s Basketball suffered an 81-66 loss at California Baptist on Tuesday night. The Warriors could not contain the Lancers who shot 56.9 percent from the field (29 of 51) and made 44.4 percent from beyond the arc (8 of 18).
“I thought Cal Baptist played with lots of confidence,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “We got back on our heals and were playing catch-up the whole time. We couldn’t get inside 10 points very often and when we did they would come down and hit a big shot. Justus Van Wright (17 points) had a phenomenal game. Larry Dew (21 points) and Davey Hopkins (19 points, 12 rebounds) took over the second half and played very well. We couldn’t contain the guys that we knew we needed to contain.”
With the loss, Westmont falls to 10-3 on the season and 2-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. California Baptist improves to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in the GSAC.
“It was a great game-plan game but it wasn’t a great energy game,” said Moore. “Some of the guys who hit shots against us were guys who were not great shooters. That says a lot about the confidence they were playing with.”
The Lancers jumped out to a 22-8 lead to start the game and Westmont never overcame the deficit. Down by ten at halftime (37-27), the Warriors cut the margin to six points (43-37) on a three-point bucket by senior shooting guard Andrew Schmalbach. However, that was as close as the men from Santa Barbara would get.
Schmalbach made five of six attempts from the floor, including three of four from beyond the arc, to tally 13 points. Junior guard Blake Bender added another 12 points to the Warrior cause and contributed five rebounds.
Rasp made six of eight of his field goal attempts to run his career total to 356 field goals on 636 attempts. That gives the Camarillo native a career field goal percentage of .560 and a career point total of 1.014.
“Most guys eclipse the 1,000 point mark in their senior year,” noted Moore. “Danny Rasp is probably one of only three to five players (in Westmont history) who have done it earlier than that. I think that tells you the kind of scorer he has been throughout his career.
At his current pace of 13.8 points per game this season, Rasp could make the top-20 on Westmont’s career scoring list by the end of this year. That would put him within striking distance of a run at the top spot in his senior season. The record of 1,679 career points is held by John Crew who played for the Warriors from 1950-54.
Mark Miller, father of John and Lucas Miller on this year’s team, holds the number two position with 1,671 points. The elder Miller, a team mate of Coach Moore, played from 1973-1977,
A look at other GSAC action on Tuesday night reveals the Warriors were the only visiting team not to win. Fifth-seeded Biola defeated Azusa Pacific 85-69 on the Cougars’ home court. The Master’s hosted #2 Concordia and the Eagles handed the Mustangs a 61-54 defeat – their first conference loss of the year. Vanguard posted a 70-57 win at Hope International and Point Loma Nazarene made the short trip to El Cajon to pick up a 72-63 win over San Diego Christian.
Biola and Concordia remain tied atop the GSAC standing with conference records of 4-0. California Baptist and The Master’s are tied for third at 3-1. At 2-2, Westmont and Vanguard are tied for fifth with a one-half game advantage over Point Loma which is 2-3. Seventh ranked Fresno Pacific, which was idle tonight, claims eighth place with a record of 1-2 while Azusa Pacific is in ninth at 1-3. Hope International and San Diego Christian have yet to win a conference game this year (0-4).
Next up for the Warriors is a home contest with The Master’s on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
