Westmont Men’s Basketball (16-9, 13-6 PacWest) was tested on Monday afternoon by the Menlo Oaks (3-22, 3-16), but in the end, the Warriors outlasted the Oaks by a score of 80-74.

Westmont trailed by as many as 12 in the second half, but a furious run during the heart of the final period allowed the Warriors to surge forward towards a perfect road trip.

“Give Menlo credit,” said Westmont head coach Justin Leslie, “but a lot of the success they were having was due to the mistakes that we were making and all the things we were giving away. This was a very poor defensive game for us, and then that was compounded with the fact that it was an equally poor shooting night for us.

“Our shot quality wasn’t terrible, or as bad as our shooting numbers might suggest, but we couldn’t buy a shot. Menlo was really physical at the point of attack, and it kind’ve got us out of rhythm.”

After 20 minutes the Warriors found themselves trailing by a point after a half in which Westmont shot just 37.5% as a team (12-32). The Oaks didn’t shoot much better (12-30), but a significant difference was in the teams’ luck from beyond the arc, where Westmont made just two of 12 compared to Menlo making five in 11 tries.

Individually, Aidan Mandel had nine points on four of six shooting, but everyone else combined was only eight of 26 from the field. Another quiet first half bright spot, however, was a six-point half from Davon Smith, who sank three of six from the field to go along with a rebound and an assist in 11 minutes.

The Warriors trailed by as many as six during the final minutes of the period, but trimmed enough off of the deficit to ensure the contest was still very much up for grabs entering the second half.

Things got tense early on in the second just a bit, when a few three-pointers for Menlo fell to make it a six-point deficit once again with 17:30 remaining (41-35). One possession after that, the Warriors were looking up at a game-high eight-point lead for the Oaks.

The first media timeout of the half offered a moment for Westmont to regroup as the Warriors had made only three of eight shots to open the period, while the Oaks began to legitimately smell the upset after sinking six of their first seven. That early half run had the Oaks leading 48-37 with 14:40 to play.

The Warriors had several chances to cut into the deficit over the next couple minutes, but four consecutive missed free throws by the club followed by a Menlo layup made it 51-39 with under 12 minutes to play.

Braedon Bigott was the man who finally said enough was enough, following up a perfect trip to the line with a tree-pointer in transition to put some swagger back in the Warriors’ step. Bigott’s shot from long range forced Menlo into a timeout with 9:52 remaining, as Westmont was right back within five at 52-47.

Right out of the timeout, Mandel came up with a block, and Trey Thompson fed Jarrett Bryant on a full-court pass that led to a layup. Then, on the next possession, Smith made his presence felt by earning three points the old fashioned way, tying things up at 52 for the first time in over 10 minutes.

With under seven minutes to play, however, Menlo once again kept the pressure on by going back up 59-55. Mandel then came up big once more, landing a corner three to make it a one-point game with six minutes to go (59-58).

A minute after that, Bryant connected from long range to give Westmont its first lead since the opening minute of the second half (63-61). Two more baskets from Bryant followed that one, which led into the final media timeout of the game. With 3:09 to play, Westmont finally had its first multi-possession lead of the second half (67-62).

Bryant refused to ease up on the Oaks, giving Westmont a three-possession lead by converting both ends of an and-one opportunity, putting Westmont up 70-63 with 2:19 to play. The Oaks had one more surge in them, however, as a three-point play by Menlo made it a two-point game entering the final minute of regulation (70-68).

Thompson then made one shot at the line, before the Oaks had a chance to potentially tie it. Instead of that, however, an extremely physical defensive display by Westmont forced a Menlo turnover, and sent Bigott back to the free throw line. There, he made it 73-68 with 40 seconds on the clock.

After a few more stops and some more successful free throw shooting, the Warriors were able to finally kill the clock for an 80-74 win. Westmont ended up shooting 56% as a team in the second half (14-25), while also making 18 free throws.

“Once we got a rhythm, we were fine,” said Leslie. “End of the game, I laughed, looking down and realizing we had 38 points in the paint and 22 free throws on the night. You’re looking at 60 points in the paint right there. That’s our recipe. For some reason, we just waited until the last ten minutes to do it.”

Individually, Mandel was stellar across the line, scoring 21 points to go along with eight rebounds, three blocks, and four steals. Bryant finished with 19, Bigott finished with 14, and Smith finished with 10.

Thompson quietly came close to a triple-double, after collecting seven points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.

“Aidan was special,” affirmed Leslie. “He struggled a little bit on the defensive side just trying to get a rhythm, but once he did, you look and see he had three blocks, four steals, and that was huge. On the other side, it was Aidan’s shooting that kept us in it. His scoring in that first half and then early in the second half was big, because we couldn’t find a rhythm anywhere else just yet.

“Then for Trey, it was such an all-around game for him. Then both Jarrett and Braeden got it going during that decisive run, not settling, attacking the rim, finding other people, and putting us in good situations.”

After falling to Jessup in overtime on February 2, the Warriors have now won four in a row, and are alone in second place in the PacWest. Since January 15, the club is 10-2.

Leslie spoke on the recent saying, “I told the guys two weeks ago, you know that old Garth Brooks song, that says ‘some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers’. Maybe there’s just still lessons that we have to learn in order to be the team that we want to be.

“As some point, we have to just stand up and decide for ourselves whether we belong or not. I think the way we have continued to respond is speaking to the growing belief that these guys have in themselves, and in each other.”

Westmont will celebrate its senior night this Saturday at 3:00 p.m., when the Warriors host the Dominican Penguins.