Maybe they were too excited.
Murchison Gym was completely filled for Westmont’s rivalry men’s basketball game against No. 4 Biola, but the Warriors couldn’t fill the nets in a 63-42 loss.
“This is the most fans I’ve seen here in my three years here, and it definitely makes the game different. You play as hard as you can, but the nerves are there and you want to perform,” said Evan Haines who finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. “I think for the first three-fourths of the game we played pretty well but we just couldn’t hold on.”
Westmont's Chris Jackson goes up for a lay-up.
Westmont went a dismal 2-for-22 from beyond the arc and shot 16-for-50 total from the field — not a good way to beat a team with a substantial size advantage.
Surprisingly, Biola’s big men weren’t the ones doing the damage. Rather, it was the undefeated Eagles’ prowess from mid-range down the stretch that allowed them to outscore the Warriors 35-13 in the final 11 minutes of the game.
Biola shot 65-percent in the second half while the Warriors were stuck at 30-percent.
“I thought we played 30 minutes of pretty good basketball, it’s just in the last 10 minutes we couldn’t finish. You have to find the finish line. Great teams find the finish line, and they sure did,” said coach John Moore, who was honored in a ceremony before the game for reaching 400 wins at Westmont.
The biggest body on the court — 6-9 Biola center Rocky Hampton — had just three points while high-energy point guard Marlon King had 22 on 7-for-10 shooting with five assists. Westmont was led by 12 points from Dan Rasp and 10 from Chris Jackson.
King’s motor was revved up the whole game.
“They have the best point guard in the league. He was phenomenal tonight,” said Moore. “He’s a 44-percent free-throw shooter and he was 6-for-7 tonight, so he wanted this game and he was a clutch, clutch player tonight.”
Neither team could find a rhythm in the first half, as Biola took a 22-19 lead into the break. The Warriors failed to grab an offensive rebound in the period. Westmont had a 29-28 lead with 11 mintes to go before Biola pulled away.
Moore received a standing ovation in the pre-game ceremony, which celebrated not only his 400th win but his 500th game as coach of the Warriors. He reached both milestones on December 19th at Cal State Maritime. In his short address to the crowd, he paid tribute to his two heroes in coaching — Westmont legend Chet Kammerer, who coached Moore when he was a player, and Biola (16-0, 6-0 GSAC) coach Dave Holmquist.
Holmquist has been an NAIA coach for three decades and is approaching 800 wins.
“My hope is that I can coach until I’m 100, and then maybe I can catch up to Dave Holmquist,” he said.
The Warriors (11-4, 3-3 GSAC) play at Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday.
