Chris (C.J.) Jackson shot 80 percent from the floor (8 of 10) and was the offensive spark Westmont Men’s Basketball needed to win a defensive struggle with California Baptist on Tuesday night in Murchison Gymnasium. Jackson led the Warriors with 18 points and also tallied five assists, three rebounds and three steals.
The win improves the Warriors record to 16-7 overall and 8-6 in GSAC play. It also avenges and earlier loss this season to the Lancers.
“We marked today on our calendar after that game.” said Jackson in reference to the previous loss. “We all came out ready to play and played good defense throughout the game and that is what won us the game.”
“C.J. is the guy who found himself open,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “Our guys found him and he made some spectacular shots. Some of the shots he put in the basket were things he will remember for a long time and we will too.
Westmont took a 26-19 lead into the locker room after a low-scoring first half. With four minutes remaining in regulation, the Warriors had increased their margin to 11 points (50-39). However, a 7-0 Lancer run cut the Warrior lead to just four points (50-46) with 2:19 to play.
After Dan Rasp made it a six point game with a jumper, Blake Bender put Westmont up by eight with a layup. But it was the next four possessions the sealed the deal for the Warriors.
Rasp produced back-to-back steals that led to layups by Matt LeDuc and Jackson. Bender then stole the ball and Jackson was fouled hard on his way to what should have been an easy layup.
After taking a moment to compose himself, Jackson stepped to the line and sank the first free throw attempt but missed the second. Jackson then pilfered the ball once more for the Warriors and this time it was Jordan Sach who scored on a layup. As a result, the Warriors were in possession of a 15-point lead with 28 seconds left in the game.
It was the Warriors defense, which won the day.
“Blake did a great job on Larry Dew who is a great player and extremely quick,” said Jackson. “We put Blake on him to use his length and shut him down – as well as (Justus) Von Wright. He and Andrew (Schmalbach) did a good job of keeping the ball out of their hands and making it tough for them. (Dew and Von Wright) are their main to scorers. By keeping the ball out of their scorer’s hands, we made people who aren’t used to scoring try to score.”
“We held them to six for 18 from the field in the first half and 41.3% from the field overall,” noted Moore, “and from the three-point line, we held them to 25%. We shot 63.6% in the second half and 55.8% overall. I thought defensively we were special tonight.
“Andrew Schmalbach and Blake Bender had the hardest (defensive) assignment,” continued Moore. “However, there was a four-minute segment in the second half, where Evan Haines was really, really good. He got two blocked shots and got a couple of rebounds. I thought our team defense was very, very good.
“Andrew doesn’t get enough credit for his defense,” said Moore. “He was guarding a very good three-point shooter in Justus Von Wright and I thought he held him down exceptionally well.”
Bender scored 14 points for the Warriors and had three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Rasp totaled 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
As a result of tonight’s game, Westmont finds itself alone in sixth place in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings. However the Warriors are just one-half game behind Fresno Pacific and a full game behind a three way tile for third place between Azusa Pacific and The Master’s.
On Saturday, Westmont will travel to Santa Clarita to take on the Mustangs of The Master’s College.
“The Master’s is playing very good basketball,” reported Moore. “They are a hard team to play. They have good size, they have shot blockers, they have very good scorers and they have an excellent point guard. There aren’t a lot of holes in their game. They have a freshman shooter who is very good – Leif Karlsburg. They are a very good team, but I think we are a very good team as well.
The two teams are scheduled to begin play at 5:30 p.m.
