Westmont junior forward Dan Rasp tallied 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds as No. 22 Westmont Men’s Basketball (11-3, 3-2 GSAC) picked up a 72-71 Golden State Athletic Conference win over The Master’s (10-5, 3-2 GSAC) on Saturday night in Murchison Gymnasium. Rasp was six of nine from the floor.
“Dan led us in rebounding and he led us in scoring,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “I felt like Dan was back.”
Senior forward Matt LeDuc came off the bench to give the Warriors 12 points while going three-of-three from the floor.
“We got really got play out of our bench tonight,” said Moore. “John Miller (5 points, 4 rebounds) played well; Matt LeDuc played well.”
Senior point guard Chris Jackson saw limited time in the first half after picking up his third foul but gave the Warriors 10 points on four-of-six shooting and added four assists.
“When CJ got his third foul, Preston Branson and Jordan Sachs came in and gave us great minutes,” said Moore. “They came into their own tonight. Jordan did some really nice things tonight.”
The teams played a closely contested game in the first half until, with the game tied at 24-all, Westmont went on a 7-0 run on layup by Sachs and free throws by Branson and Rasp. That gave Westmont a 31-24 advantage with 2:18 remaining to play in the first frame. When the horn sounded ending the opening frame, Westmont enjoyed a 33-28 lead.
Andrew Schmalbach (9 points, 3 assists) nailed a three-pointer out of the gate in the second half to give Westmont an eight point lead (36-28). Halfway through the second period, the Warriors had stretched their led to 14 points, (53-39).
“I thought we played with a lot of passion and played with good energy,” said Moore. “I thought our defensive effort in the first half and first five minutes of the second half is what made the deference.”
“We started out strong and played good defense,” said Rasp. “They made some tough threes to keep it close. We talked at halftime and stepped up our D coming out in the second half and got a pretty good lead.”
The Master’s battled back to make the game interesting in the final minutes. Down by seven (66-59), Dean Hadley (10 points, 5 rebounds) scored off an offensive rebound to cut the margin to five. With 58 seconds remaining, the Mustangs got a break when Evan Haines (8 points, 5 rebound) fouled out. Raphael Harris (15 points, 5 rebounds) stepped to the line and made both free throws; moving the Mustangs to within three points (66-63).
Schmalbach was fouled on the ensuing possession and made the first of two attempts. Blake Bender (6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) pulled down the offensive board to retain possession for the Warriors. Schmalbach was fouled again and this time sank both attempts from the charity stripe to restore the Warrior lead to six (69-63) with five seconds remaining.
The Mustangs brought the ball down the court and found Leif Karlberg open. Karlberg drained a three-pointer to put the Mustangs within three again with just 32 seconds to play. Chuck Martin, the Mustangs head coach, used his final timeout to coordinate his strategy with his team. When play resumed, the ball was in-bounded to LeDuc who was immediately fouled. LeDuc sank both shots giving Westmont a 71-66 lead with 30 seconds to play.
Eight seconds later Joey Fuca laid the ball in the Mustang’s hoop to once again move within three. LeDuc was again fouled, but this time missed both his shots. The Master’s had the opportunity they were looking for, but Harris missed two layup opportunities before LeDuc came down with a Warrior rebound. Once more, LeDuc was fouled and sent to the free throw line.
With a three-point advantage and four seconds remaining in the game, LeDuc made the first attempt to make the score 72-68. His second shot bounced off the rim and was rebounded by Hadley. The Master’s quickly moved the ball up the court and Fuca fired from just out side the arc. The ball swished through the net as time expired, leaving the Mustangs a point short, and the Warriors with the win.
“At the end of the game they hurt us with offensive rebounds but for the most part we played well and rebounded well,” said Rasp. “We have to learn from our mistakes in this game – learn how to close out games better. We have a big game against Biola and we have to rebound better than we did tonight.”
The Warriors will host the fifth-ranked and undefeated Biola Eagles (15-0, 5-0 GSAC) on Tuesday beginning at 7:30 p.m.
“Where we let the game get away a little bit – in the tale end of the game – was that we turned the ball over and gave up some offensive rebounds,” concurred Moore. “In a game against a team like Biola, which is a very good offensive rebounding team, we have to shore up the glass.”
“This (win) gives us good momentum and good confidence going into our game on Tuesday,” said Rasp. “We need to give our legs good rest tomorrow before we prepare and practice on Monday and get ready to have a battle with Biola.”
