A frustrating first half proved to be the undoing of Westmont Men’s Basketball (14-5, 6-4) in Irvine on Saturday night as #3 Concordia (18-2, 10-0 GSAC) posted a 98-71 Golden State Athletic Conference win. The Warriors shot just 33.3 percent (8 of 24) in the first half to go down 50-24 at the half. Concordia made 58.8 percent of its first half attempts (20 of 34).
While the Warriors’ second half shooting improved dramatically in the second half to 52.8 percent (19 of 36), it wasn’t enough to make a dent in the first-half deficit.
Concordia’s Taylor King, who played at both Duke and Villanova before transferring to Concordia, led all scorers with 17 points. He also pulled down nine rebounds. Justin Johnson added 16 points for the Eagles and Cameron Gliddon contributed another 11.
Westmont was led in scoring by Jordan Sachs who made five of seven attempts from the floor on his way to 13 points and four rebounds. Blake Bender added 10 points and five rebounds while Matt Hornbuckle scored 10 points and pulled down three boards.
The game marked the end of the first half of the GSAC season and the Warriors find themselves tied with Point Loma Nazarene for fourth place in the conference standings. Concordia sits atop the conference at 10-0 while #7 Azusa Pacific is in second at 5-1. Fifteenth ranked Biola hold the number three position at 8-2.
The Warriors will host Biola on Tuesday night in Murchison Gymnasium. Tip-off is a 7:30 p.m.
