“Tonight was a coming out party for our freshman Gerry Karczewski,” opened head coach John Moore about his team’s 71-59 victory over Bethesda this evening. “He comes from a great legacy family in this town—his dad played on one of the best Santa Barbara County teams I have ever seen. It was very special night for Gerry.”
The freshman’s 15 point performance certainly gave the crowded gym something to celebrate this evening. He was 5 for 9 from the three-point line, all of which came in the first half of the game. Considering he sank three of his three pointers within a span of four minutes, he not only lit up the court in Murchison Gymnasium but had the fans continually on their feet.
Karczewski’s standout performance would not have been possible without the help of junior guard Britton Williams who seemingly has a way of setting his teammates up perfectly time and time again. Tonight it became evident that Britton has a way of seeing the court, drawing the opponents defense and then dishing the ball to the open teammate.
“Britton Williams was great tonight. With four steals, seven assists and 14 points, he had a very complete game. He is a really great teammate because he makes others look good. Gerry came in very confident in this game because he knew that teammates like Britton would find him and get him the ball,” raved Moore.
When Karczewski’s hot hands cooled off a bit in the second half, sophomore Cory Blau was there to make up for it. He led the team offensively with a game high of 17 points which he paired with nine total rebounds.
Defensively, Daniel Carlin led the charge with his first (and likely not last) double-double of the season. With 10 rebounds and 12 points, the 6-9 “Thunder from Down Under” was a force to be reckoned with in the paint.
At the half, the Warriors were being out-rebounded 19-15, but were able to make up for it in the final 20 minutes and ended with a total of 40 rebounds to the Flames’ 34. “I really thought that our defensive intensity was great in the last eight minutes of the game. We were up by a couple points and held them scoreless for a little bit which allowed us to extend the lead. We had a rebounding differential of six by the end of the game. The team was able to push through and come out on top, that is a very good sign for us,” explained Moore.
Westmont officially progresses to 1-0 on their season and will now hit the road for a lineup of tough competition. “We are on the road for the next six games, one of which is the start of conference play down at Vanguard. Up next, we have two really good Division II opponents who are top of the league type teams,” Moore closed out.
The Warriors tip off next Friday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m. against Cal Poly Pomona.
