Justin Bessard (27 points) and Jared Brown (23 points) each scored their most points in a Warrior uniform, leading Westmont to an 84-76 victory over visiting Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday night.
“Tonight was a night for Justin Bessard and Jared Brown,” said Westmont head coach John Moore. “They scored 50 points between the two of them. I thought for as new as they are to our program, they really played within themselves.”
The Warriors, who improved to 5-0 on the young season,went on a 16-0 run to take a 19-3 lead with 11:35 left in the first half.
A four-point play for Pomona-Pitzer brought the visitors within 10, before Westmont went on a 9-0 run to take its largest lead of the first half, 32-13.
The Sagehens cut the Warriors’ lead to 13 at the break, 42-29, thanks in large part to their 3-point shooting, as six of the team’s nine made field goals in the first half were from behind the arc.
“Anytime you hold a team like Pomona-Pitzer to 29 points in the first half, you are playing a very good defensive game,” said Moore.
Brown, who was two for three from deep in the first half, continued his hot shooting to start the second half, draining a 3-ball to get the Warriors on the board after halftime. A Cade Roth jumper extended Westmont’s lead to 58-43 with 13:12 to play before Pomona-Pitzer went on a 14-2 run to get within three points, 60-57.
“We can shoot and we can score. It’s more of a question of whether we can defend consistently, as in that second half they came back to within three,” said Moore. “In the second half we lost some people. They have good shooters and are an experienced team.”
Roth stopped the bleeding with a jumper, then Bessard went back to work down low, scoring with a lefty hook before converting a three-point play to get the Warriors’ lead back to double digits. Brown’s layup extended their advantage to 12, prompting a Sagehen timeout with 6:18 to play.
“I thought we kept our poise in that situation,” said Moore of when his team’s lead was reduced to three. “We were stuck on 60 points and just couldn’t get away. I thought Cade’s basket really unleashed us. It felt like we were frozen.”
Bessard got Westmont’s lead up to 14, before back-to-back buckets from Pomona-Pitzer got the Sagehens to within nine with 2:41 on the clock. The visitors got no closer than eight the rest of the way, as the Warriors continued their perfect start to the season.
Westmont hits the road on Tuesday to take on Occidental at 7:00 p.m. before returning home on Friday to play Maine Fort Kent at 8:00 p.m.