EL CAJON – #25 Westmont’s men’s basketball team (19-8, 11-3 GSAC) finished their longest road trip of the season with a 78-64 win against San Diego Christian (5-18, 0-15 GSAC) this evening. Earlier this week, the Warriors took down #11 Arizona Christian, so tonight’s win will cap off the second win of a very successful travel series.
Over the last four days, the Warriors have traveled roughly 809 miles on a bus, to play two very important conference games. They began with an upset against Arizona on Thursday night and finished with a solid, confidence boosting game against San Diego Christian this evening. With only two games left in regular season conference play, every point, every repetition and every win matters. Thankfully, the men’s team has proven their ability to play well on the road and walked away with an undefeated record this weekend.
After a bit of a rough start this evening against the Hawks, the Warriors managed to work their way into the fifth tie score of the game and head into halftime with 37-37 on the scoreboard. From the moment the Warriors stepped onto the court in the second half, they played like a different team. The men were able to regain their footing and dominate for the final 20 minutes on the clock.
As the time wound down, the Warriors only got better. The men posted an impressive 66.7 field goal percentage in the final twenty, sinking 16 of their 24 total shots. Their locked in defense pulled down a grand total of 36 rebounds and held the Hawks to a 40 percent shooting average for the game. “That was a good win for the Warriors tonight,” remarked head coach John Moore. “Shooting 66 percent from the field in the second half certainly doesn’t hurt, and playing good defense with that kind of offense on the road makes for a good combination.”
Cory Blau has been a leader of this team since the beginning of the season and tonight he played the best statistical game of the year. He not only earned a game high, but broke his personal career record with a new high of 30 points. The sophomore went 11-18 from the field, pulled down five rebounds and had two assists.
“Cory (Blau) played lights out with 30 points tonight,” raved Moore. “It was a great game by our two leading scorers.”
The teams other lead scorer, Daniel Carlin, earned his fifth double-double of the season tonight. With 16 points and 13 rebounds, the senior demanded attention and controlled the paint. He finishes the two game road series with a total of 27 points and 22 rebounds.
“Overall I thought we did really well. It is difficult to travel as far as we have traveled in the last couple of days, but 2-0 is a great sign and tribute of the toughness of this team. We just keep growing and keep getting a little bit better with every game,” closed out Moore. As the team makes the final 221 mile drive back up the coast to Santa Barbara, it is safe to say that the bus is full of exhausted, yet very content Warrior men.
The Warriors now have two home games to close out regular season conference play. The first match-up will be at home against #4 Hope International on Tuesday February 24 at 7:30 pm in Murchison Gymnasium.
