January 7, 2024

WU Earns First Win of 2024

Video Box Score
The defending Cal Pac champs knew before the game that they had not been playing up to their own standards and were looking to change that immediately.
 
On Saturday, the Westcliff men's basketball team made a statement with a convincing win over Park-Gilbert 72-49, and their first win of the new year.
 
Rayven Turner scored the first basket for the Warriors which was a three-pointer, after the assist from Jamal Briscoe.
 
From that moment on the Warriors were just steady and slowly building on their lead.
 
With six minutes to go in the first half Marius Ntwari gave WU a double-digit lead with a couple of made free throws. Ntwari was huge for the Warriors in this game and knocked down his free throws all game long.
 
By the end of the first half the home team had increased their lead and were up 33-20.
 
The second half went much like the first as Westcliff outscored Park-Gilbert 39-29 to grab the win and improve their record to (4-7, Cal Pac 3-3).
 
They are now tied for fourth place in the standings with two other teams.
 
The team shot 39.7% from the field and 36.4% from the long range. But the free throws were the biggest difference between the teams as the Warriors made 18 compared to six from Park.
 
Turner had a solid game with 14 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. He made both of his three-pointer and free-throw attempts to finish off a very efficient game.
 
Justin Boateng had 12 points, five rebounds, and two steals on 5-9 shooting from the floor.
 
Almost every single member of the Warrior team was able to get on the scoring sheet as this was a complete team effort.
 
Off the bench, Ntwari finished with nine points and five rebounds as he went 7-8 from the free-throw line.
 
Korey Hess also finished with nine points off the bench and made 2-4 of his three-point attempts. 
 
Up next, Westcliff will visit La Sierra and then come back home for one game before a big road trip begins towards the middle of January.
 
The defending champs know that these next couple of weeks will be important and their time to start making some uphill progress in the standings.
 
But for now, the team can be happy that they have earned their first win of 2024, and to more from here on out.