Senior forward Cooper Damron and junior forward C.J. Miller each posted a double-double as No. 6 Westmont Men’s Basketball (20-4, 8-1 GSAC) recorded a 76-65 Golden State Athletic Conference win over visiting Vanguard (15-9, 4-5) on Tuesday night in Murchison Gymnasium.
Damron tallied 19 points and 16 rebounds while Miller scored 14 points and collected 11 boards. Senior guard Niko Brooks also scored 14 points while fellow senior Preston Branson added 11.
“It was not pretty at all,” said Westmont head coach John Moore. “Defensive games often times are not pretty. We played great defense and we rebounded in the second half. The rebounding stats were almost tied at halftime – we were up by one 20-19. They got eight rebounds in the second half, we got 23 rebounds, to post a 16 point rebound differential for the game.
“C.J. Miller put us on his back in the first half,” noted Westmont head coach John Moore. “He had a double-double in the first half with 12 points and 10 rebounds.”
The Warriors took a 32-27 lead into the halftime, overcoming a scoring barrage by Vanguard’s Taylor Kelly who went five for five from three-point range in the first seven minutes of the game.
“Tonight was a Cooper Damron show,” said Moore. “He spoke to our team before the game and then backed up what he spoke about, which was about staying in the moment – don’t get too high or too low. He was the most consistent player out there. He had eight rebounds in the first half and eight in the second half. He had six points in the first half and 13 in the second half.
“His effort tonight was off the charts,” continued the coach. “That effort was epitomized when Preston was falling out of bounds and threw it behind his back to try and save the ball. It looked like one of their players was going to come up with it. Cooper scooped it up and then finished at the basket with a guy hanging on him, making an ‘and-one’ play at a critical time. So, I’m especially proud of Coop because of all the heavy lifting he had to do tonight. He is starting to rebound like one of the best rebounders in the country.”
As a result of tonight’s victory, and a 101-86 loss by #15 Hope International (21-4, 6-3) at Arizona Christian (15-6, 5-4), Westmont has a two-game lead in the GSAC standings with five games left in the regular season. Arizona Christian is in third place, one game ahead of Concordia (15-8, 4-5) and Vanguard who are tied for fourth.
Concordia defeated the Master’s (14-10, 3-6) this evening by a score of 66-55, dropping the Mustangs into a three-way tie for sixth place with Biola (13-12, 3-6) and San Diego Christian (6-12, 3-6). Biola defeated San Diego Christian 76-68 in La Mirada.
On Saturday, the Warriors will travel to Fullerton to take on Hope International at 7:30 p.m.
