December 1, 2023

WU Overcomes Slow Start, Earns First Win

Video Box Score
By Francisco Claudio
 
The Westcliff men's basketball team started off their conference schedule on the right foot with an 84-68 win over the Cal Maritime Keelhaulers.
 
This was a good win for the defending champions, who secured their first victory of the season after facing formidable opponents thus far.
 
Both teams struggled to start the game as almost five minutes went by with the score staying at 0-0 because of missed shots and turnovers.
 
The Keelhaulers broke the stalemate with a bucket but the Warriors responded with a three-pointer from Micaiah Hankins.
 
With nine minutes left in the first half, Jamal Briscoe made a layup to put Westcliff up 11-8 as they started to take control of the game.
 
The Warriors would extend their lead to 11 points with 50 seconds left in the half but the Keelhaulers tried to have a late comeback going into half-time break.
 
After the first 20 minutes, the Warriors still had the lead, 36-30.
 
In the first half, Westcliff shot 41.7% from the field and went 14-17 from the free throw line.
 
The three-point shot wasn't falling like they would have liked, with an 18% efficiency in the first half.
 
Korey Hess scored 11 points and John Duff followed with 10.
 
But Westcliff came out on fire and determined to put the game away as quickly as possible to start the second half.
 
Within the first three minutes, they had extended the lead to double-digits 44-34, and it never got closer than that. 
 
In the second half, the Warriors shot 75% from the field, 72.7% from beyond the arc, and 71% from the free throw line.
 
Jamal Briscoe finished with a game-high 18 points. He went 7-9 from the field with three of those shots from three-point range.
 
Duff recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Justin Boateng and Hankins each scored 16 points to round out a solid game from the four starters.
 
Off the bench, Hess scored 15 points.
 
The Warriors will have many positives to take away from last night's performance as they begin the journey of defending their title.
 
No longer will this team be able to fly under the radar in the Cal Pac Conference as everyone else will attempt to bring their best game when going up against the defending champs.
 
With the win, the Warriors have an overall record of (1-3) and a conference record of (1-0).
 
Up next, they will take on the Pacific Union Pioneers on Saturday, with a late start time of 9 PM.