Westmont’s men’s basketball team, ranked at number eight in the NAIA, lost by a score of 58-53 to The Master’s College (17-9, 9-6 GSAC) in a Golden State Athletic Conference game on Tuesday night. For the first time since January 11, the Warriors (18-6, 10-5) have fallen out of first place in the GSAC standings.
“If the game had ended two minutes earlier, we would have won,” said Moore after the game. “But we couldn’t find a way to stop them late or get what we have been getting at the rim. They made a big three and (Anthony) Cammon made a nice shot late.”
Preston Branson led three Warriors in double figures with 13. Jon Hogan led all scorers with 16 points for The Master’s.
The Warriors led by as much as 13 points in the second half (30-17). However, the Mustangs rallied and closed out the final three and one-half minutes of the opening frame with a 9-0 run to pull to within four (30-26).
The Warriors responded in the opening minutes of the second half, outscoring the Mustangs 10-3 to record a 40-29 lead with 14:22 to play in the second half. Again, The Master’s battled back, outscoring Westmont 14-3 to tie the game at 43 with 8:27 remaining.
Four minutes later, the game was tied again at 49. Nate Gibbs laid the ball in the basket to give Westmont a 51-49 lead with 3:41 to go, but Devin Dyer scored on the Mustangs’ next possession, tying the game at 51.
After Westmont failed to score, the Mustang’s brought the ball down the court and Jon Hogan nailed a three-pointer to put The Master’s up 54-51 with just under 2:00 minutes showing on the clock. Westmont would not score again until the final three seconds, which proved to be too little, too late.
With the loss, Westmont drops into a tie with Point Loma Nazarene (17-7, 10-5) for second place in the conference. Point Loma posted a 72-52 win at #17 Azusa Pacific (20-7, 9-6). #11 Concordia (21-5, 11-4) took over sole possession of first place with an 86-68 win over Vanguard (14-12, 6-9).
Azusa Pacific fell into a three-way tie for fourth place with The Master’s and Biola (19-8, 9-6), the latter of which earned a 64-62 road win at Fresno Pacific.
On Saturday, the Warriors will have an opportunity to recapture a share of first place when they host Concordia at Murchison Gymnasium. Westmont Athletics will offer free admission to Saturday’s game.
Moore shared the thoughts of his long time assistant coach on the upcoming game, “Jeff Azain told the team, ‘You are still playing for first place on Saturday against Concordia. Make sure you keep your heads up and make sure you are motivated for that particular game.’ I couldn’t agree with him more.”
