Hope International (11-10, 4-10 GSAC) has become the wild card this season in the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Royals have only four wins in conference, but three of those four have come against some of the top teams in the conference – Azusa Pacific, The Master’s and, as of tonight, No. 9 Westmont (18-5, 10-4 GSAC).
The Royals recorded their first win ever against the Warriors by a score of 77-70.
“We started the game poorly,” said Westmont head coach John Moore. “I thought we were focused, but we did not execute well to start the game. Our shooting percentage was not what it typically has been. That and the turnovers were the two things that hurt us the most in the first half.”
The Royals jumped out to a 25-13 lead in the first ten minutes of the game, and the Warriors had trouble closing the gap. Hope International made four of five from beyond the arc in that opening stretch – three by Aaron Woods who finished with a game-high 25 points while making eight of 11 from the field including five of seven from downtown.
At the intermission, the Royals held a 10 point lead (34-24). By the time the second-half clock read 13:40, Hope International had stretched their margin to 17 (47-30).
“We took the starting line-up out and put five different players in,” said Moore about responding to the deficit. “They did a nice job and played with good energy. That set the tone for when the starters got back in.
“We cut the lead to five and needed a defensive stop,” said Moore. “But we let their most dangerous player (Woods) hit a big shot. That put it back up to eight. We had good possessions offensively during that stretch, but couldn’t get the stops.
Hope International finished with four players in double-figures, including Woods. Kris Rosales tallied 17 points and five rebounds. Jeremy Kilgore put up 14 points and pulled down 4 rebounds. Steve Jurich, the GSAC’s leading rebounder, recorded a double-double of 11 points and 15 rebounds.
Westmont was led in scoring by C.J. Miller who tallied 19 points and 9 rebounds. Miller was seven of 10 from the floor including three of four from three-point territory. Preston Branson notched 18 points and three rebounds.
Westmont, which lost the battle of the boards 42-35, shot 39.7 percent (23 of 58) for the game. Hope International shot 44.4 percent (24 of 54) including 46.7 percent from three-point range (seven of 15).
With the loss, Westmont falls into a tie for first place with #16 Concordia (20-5, 10-4). Concordia defeated #11 Azusa Pacific (20-6, 9-5) this evening by a score of 78-61. Azusa is now tied with Point Loma Nazarene (16-7, 9-5) for third place after Point Loma fell 67-62 at Biola (18-8, 8-6).
Biola is tied with #25 The Master’s (16-9, 8-6) for fifth place because The Master’s lost 69-68 to Vanguard (14-11).
Tuesday, Westmont will travel to Santa Clarita to take on The Master’s. Both teams will be looking to right the ship after coming off of losses this evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
