(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men’s Basketball (1-0) opened the 2026-27 season with a 102-90 overtime win over the Golden Eagles of Cal State Los Angeles (0-1) on Monday night in Murchison Gymnasium. Five Warrior guards scored in double figures in the high-scoring affair.
Tied at four in the early going, Westmont went on a 15-2 run to take a 19-6 lead. Logan Huston provided seven of those points, including kicking the run off on a layup and a triple. Braedon Bigott scored in the paint before Chase Collins and Pasha Shemirani capped off the run with back-to-back 3-point buckets.
Westmont pushed its advantage to 18 points (38-20), when Davon Smith scored on a layup with two minutes remaining in the first half. By the time the horn sounded for intermission, however, the Golden Eagles had reduced their deficit to 13 (40-27).
Los Angeles rallied in the second half and cut the lead to single digits (47-39) on a dunk by JJ Howard (12 points), a little more than three minutes into the frame. Then with just over 12 minutes to play, Isaiah Fields (19 points) knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game (58-57).
For nearly nine more minutes, the Warriors held a single-digit lead. With 3:26 to play, however, a free throw by Esteban Mann (23 points) tied the game at 77 points apiece. With a minute and one-half remaining in regulation, Fields struck again from beyond the arc, putting the Golden Eagles up 81-80. It was their first lead since scoring the opening two points.
A pair of free throws by Devin Ringer stretched Los Angeles’ lead to three (83-80) with under 40 seconds remaining on the fourth-quarter clock.
Coming out of a time out, however, Bigott drained a deep trey, tying the game and ultimately sending it into overtime.
“He knew the situation,” asserted Westmont’s head coach Justin Leslie of Bigott’s heroics. “He wanted the moment and he was ready for the moment.”
Regarding Los Angeles’ comeback, Leslie said, “We had a 13-point lead at halftime. Then, we played a better offensive second half, and they caught up. I give them a lot of credit. We made some mistakes and gave them opportunities, but they made some challenging shots whether it was driving, pull-ups off the dribble, a 30-footer at the end of the shot clock, or a running free throw line bank shot at the end of the clock. I think we did enough in the situation, but tip your cap, they finished it.
“Mann was really a force for them in the second half. We struggled containing him. We don’t get a lot of 6-7, downhill guards who are 220 pounds. Normally, those are centers at this level.
“They are a good team. They had opportunities to roll over and they just didn’t. They competed, fought throughout and worked to guard us.”
The Warriors, however, simply dominated the five-minute overtime period, outscoring the Golden Eagles 19-7 while going seven of seven from the field and four of five from the charity stripe.
Westmont won the tip and Bigott scored in the paint. Then Trey Thompson stole the rock and scored on a layup, putting the Warriors up by four (87-83). After a miss on the Golden Eagles’ end, Collins connected for another trey, putting the Warriors up by seven (90-83).
Up 94-89 with just over two minutes to play, Huston scored on back-to-back possessions, giving the Warriors a 98-89 advantage. A free throw by the Golden Eagles’ Jaden Haire made it a 98-90 game before Collins stole the ball and threw it to Bigott down court. Westmont hit the century mark when the senior guard executed a crowd-pleasing dunk.
The final tallies of the game came on a pair of free throws by Smith.
“We executed well and we caught them on a few plays where they weren’t ready and when we might have looked dead in the water,” said Leslie of the Warriors’ performance at the end of regulation and overtime. “We got some open looks and some layups.
“Trey had 17 points, Braedon had 22 and Logan 16, and all three of them were really efficient. Good guards make for good coaches. They all had a stretch of the game that they affected positively.
“Devon was able to impose some physicality at the point of attack and at the rim. He was in the fight. He got a lot of screen assists and other things that enabled other guys to score. He got to double figures as well (11 points) with four assists and no turnovers. His +/- was the biggest on the team at plus-17. He did a lot of things that affect winning that you expect from a guy that has been with me for three years now. I say this as a compliment: He is kind of an old soul with his perspective on what it takes. He is wise beyond his years and he showed that out there tonight.
“Chase got to double-figures (15 points) and JV Brown got to nine. It was a well-balanced effort. Everyone put their fingerprints on this at different places and we scored over 100 points. I think that as the season goes on, it is a win we can be proud of because Cal State LA is a really good basketball team.”
Reflecting on the game as a whole, Leslie offered, “We had some stretches where we went away from our identity and what we are trying to accomplish on both ends of the floor. A good team makes you pay. So, we just regroup, refocus and dig our heels in on those core principles that we believe in and things that we fight for. We know what we need to be successful. Now we have to fight to do that as consistently as we possibly can and show up every night whether we are at home or on the road.”
The road is where the Warriors will get to put that perspective into practice next as they travel to Lacey, Washington to participate in a GNAC-PacWest Crossover next weekend.
On Friday, November 13, the Warriors will take on Montana State Billings before facing off with Saint Martin’s on their home court on Saturday evening.