Westmont Men’s Basketball (12-8, 9-5 PacWest) won their second in a row on Saturday night in Murchison Gym, where the Warriors handled the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans (4-16, 4-10) by a score of 76-60.

A slow first half offensively was followed by a surge early on in the second, with the Warriors leading by as many as 19 down the stretch. It was the club’s sixth win in their last seven games.

“We had to play really well to beat these guys even once back at their place,” said Westmont head coach Justin Leslie. “Coming off of their three-game winning streak that they had been on since we played them last, we knew they were going to have some swagger and some edge coming in. We saw that in the first half.”

Westmont made just four of their first 15 shots from the field, which led into the half’s second media timeout with 11:28 to play in the first.

That line included a 0-for-6 mark from three-point land, but fortunately for the Warriors the Vulcans did not exactly come out hot themselves, leading only by a single point at that moment despite Westmont’s cold start (11-10).

Jarrett Bryant eventually made Westmont’s first three-pointer, but the Warriors were still just a ticker over 30% as a team by time of the game’s next stoppage (19-16, 7:15).

Over the next four minutes the shots would begin to fall, with Chase Collins’ second three-ball of the half bringing Westmont back within one. Entering the half’s final 3:09, a trip to the line from JV Brown drew the sides even at 27.

A minute after that, Braedon Bigott wore contact, earned a whistle, and got the basket to fall to give the Warriors their first lead all night.

By the break, the teams were knotted at 35, with Westmont’s biggest advantage coming from Hilo’s inability to hold onto the basketball. Nine turnovers from Hilo allowed the Warriors several extra opportunities, which helped a ton given that Westmont’s offense was streaky at best by the end of the period.

Westmont shot only 21.4% (3-14) from beyond the arc, which made up not-quite half of their field goal attempts (14-32). Hilo on the other hand shot over 50% from the field (12-22), while they also out-rebounded Westmont 17-12.

“Hilo is a big, physical team and they are hard to score on,” reflected Leslie. “It sounds simple, but they force you to actually make shots. You aren’t going to get quality looks at the rim or in the paint against these guys too often, and that was our biggest disappointment in the first half.

“We only had eight shot attempts at the rim, but I reminded the guys that we just had to punch through and get closer to the basket. In the second half, we did exactly that.”

The tide began to turn in the early minutes of the second half, particularly as the Vulcans began to lose track of Jarrett Bryant.

Twice in the span of three possessions were the Vulcans unable to keep up with the pace that Bryant presented during transition, with the elder statesman largely responsible for Westmont’s six-point lead four minutes into the half (43-37).

The Vulcans would stay within a possession for the next few minutes, but each time they did, Bryant would respond with an athletic finish on the other end.

The Westmont bench really began to feel it around the 12-minute mark, when Caleb Gilbert sent the Warriors into a media timeout up 52-46 after a corner three.

The good vibes kept rolling one possession later, when it was Bigott’s turn to drain a shot from long range. Moments later, Davon Smith finished a basket through a whistle. All of a sudden, Westmont led by 11 with 11 to play (57-46).

The shots continued to fall with under 10 minutes to play, as this time it was Trey Thompson landing one from downtown to make it a 16-point affair (62-46).

Thompson delivered an encore one possession after that, letting a roar out as he gave his club a 19-point advantage. At time of the game’s last media timeout the Warriors held a 67-50 lead, and minutes after, the club walked off the floor with a 76-60 victory.

“We had eight field goals at the rim during the half, and that really softened things up to allow other open shots,” pointed out Leslie. “Our three-point shooting quality went up because we were putting pressure on the rim.”

As a team, Westmont made an even 50% of their field goal attempts during their hot second half (15-30), while they also found better luck from three-point land as Leslie noted (5-12). On the other side of things, Westmont limited Hilo to only nine made field goals in the second half on 26 attempts (34.62%).

Individually, another efficient night from Bryant saw the senior shoot seven of 11 from the field to finish with a team-high 17 points. Behind him, Aidan Mandel not only scored 16 points, but was also credited with four blocks and four steals.

Speaking on the club’s impressive stretch as of late, Leslie said, “There’s still so much work to do. Like tonight, we feel like we still gave some away that we had to compensate and make up for. We have to defend our home floor and win games that we are supposed to win. With that, we also have games that we have to steal.

“I want our ambitions to be for the postseason. I tell my teams that the goal is to get the opportunity to play meaningful games in the month of March. For us, to get to March, these are the meaningful games. We need to make sure we stay process-focused, and in the moment, so that we are ready each and every day to give our best.

“As we do that, we put ourselves in the best possible spot for potential postseason contention.”

Westmont will remain on its home floor come Monday night, when the club hosts Jessup at 7:30 p.m.