Sophomore guard Kyle Scalmanini and junior guard Jordan Spaschak each had 20 points, leading Westmont Men’s Basketball (9-4, 3-2 GSAC) past No. 25 William Jessup (11-5, 2-2 GSAC) by a score of 84-82 on Saturday at Murchison Gym.
Westmont held the Golden State Athletic Conference’s leading scorer Keith Phillips to just 10 points. He was averaging 21.9 points per game.
“Tristan Lloyd and Matt Ramon deserve a lot of the credit for how well we did against Phillips,” Westmont coach John Moore said. “I thought Matt Ramon set a great tone and Tristan came in and played with super energy.”
Westmont held Jessup to a 42.4 shooting percentage (28 of 66) from the field while shooting 54.1 percent (33 of 61) from the floor.
Scalmanini and Spaschak scored 26 of their combined 40 points in the second half. They consistently attacked the rim all game.
“That is the best tandem guard group that we’ve had all season long,” commented Moore. “I thought Jordan had by far his best game leadership-wise, scoring-wise, and the way he gathered the team together. I love Kyle’s aggressiveness and the way he attacked the rim. Between the two of them they were 17 for 28 (60.7 percent), which is a pretty good shooting percentage.”
Westmont had a five-point lead with a minute and six seconds remaining in the game. Tyras Rattler Jr. was fouled and hit both free throws with 42 seconds left. Jessup was pressing Westmont and Darrell Polee came up with a steal and laid the ball in to bring Jessup within one at 81-80. Polee scored 21 points.
Westmont broke the press with the ball inbounded to Spaschak. Spaschak passed from the corner to Olisa Nwachie at half court who quickly flicked the ball to Lloyd who was wide open under the rim and slammed it home to give Westmont an 83-80 advantage.
A missed Polee layup led to a Tate Delaveaga offensive rebound and put back with six seconds remaining to bring Jessup back within one. Westmont ran an out of bounds play to get the ball inbounded to Cade Roth who was fouled and put to the free throw line for a one-and-one bonus opportunity. Roth hit the first one and missed the second. Desean Scott grabbed the offensive board and was fouled.
Scott missed his free throw, but Nwachie tipped the ball to the left corner where Jessup chased the ball and was forced to quickly get to half court before heaving up a half-court shot at the buzzer that fell well short of the rim.
“We won a game with Olisa on the bench for most of the game,” Moore said. “When Olisa is on the bench for that much of the game, you need to have guys step up. Freshman Matt Schmidt scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds in 16 minutes. He defended exceptionally well. I thought Matt was very good tonight.
“Our whole approach today was to be the tougher team” he added. “William Jessup is a very tough team. They’re a team that deserves to be nationally ranked. I thought our mental toughness at key times came to the fore front. I think Kyle and Jordan had a lot to do with it.”