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Westmont men’s basketball defeated by The Master’s

By JACOB NORLING

WESTMONT SPORTS WRITER

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Westmont men’s basketball (129, 5-7 GSAC) suffered another tough-to-swallow loss on Saturday night in Santa Barbara, this time against rival The Master’s (15-6, 84). The Warriors led by nine early in the first half, but at the 4:37 mark in the period The Master’s reclaimed the advantage.

From that point on, the Warriors never again tied the contest in an eventual 81-65 loss.

Westmont’s biggest issue was TMU’s Kaleb Lowery, who scored a game-high 31 points on 11 of 13 shooting. Lowery converted all five of his free throw attempts, collected eight rebounds, and never once left the floor in a game the Mustangs controlled most of the way. As a team, Westmont was outrebounded 43-25.

“It was a great environment for a small college basketball game,” began Westmont head coach Landon Boucher. “We just didn’t get the result that we wanted. Credit to Master’s, I thought they executed on both ends of the floor. The execution level was the difference in the game.

“Master’s got what they wanted going into the game. They wanted to find Lowery, and they found him for all the shots that he wanted and he had a great game.

If Lowery is shooting 11 of 13, it is very hard to beat them.”

A packed Murchison Gym was treated to an appetizing opening on Saturday when Westmont jumped out to a 17-8 advantage.

Later, at the 10:37 mark, Zeke Viuhkola converted a shot from the free throw line that put Westmont up 24-16. After the freshman’s make, however, the Warriors were held scoreless for the next four minutes, allowing The Master’s a 10-0 run to reclaim the lead.

A layup by Jordan Caruso put TMU up two at the 4:37 mark, which preceded The Master’s leading by as many as seven in the final minute of the opening period.

After a first-half buzzer beater from Cade Roth pulled Westmont within four, The Master’s opened up the second half on an 8-0 run, taking a double-digit lead (4735) with 16:30 remaining. Eight minutes later the Mustangs remained in control, stretching the advantage to 14 when Lowery drilled a 3-pointer at the 8:38 mark.

For a brief moment following Lowery’s three the Warriors had life, after back-to-back 3-pointers from Westmont pulled the club

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