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OUAZ Athletics

Keshawn Bruner -- February 25, 2022
76
Westmont WC 17-14
95
Winner OUAZ OUAZ 22-9
Westmont WC
17-14
76
Final
95
OUAZ OUAZ
22-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Westmont WC 35 41 76
OUAZ OUAZ 47 48 95

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Spirit Advance to GSAC Title Game

FULLERTON, Calif. – The magical season by the OUAZ men's basketball team will add another chapter with a trip to the championship game of the GSAC Tournament after the Spirit defeated Westmont 95-76 on Friday night.

Ninth-seeded Westmont (17-14) had taken an 18-15 lead nine minutes into the game when OUAZ (22-9) – the tournament No. 4 seed – took the game over. Ignited by seven consecutive points, the Spirit went on a 19-6 run to push its advantage to 10 with 5:53 to play before halftime. They eventually took a 47-35 lead into intermission.

Determined to put the game away early, OUAZ scored the first 12 points of the second half to lead a 17-3 scoring run that had the lead to 64-38 with under 13 minutes to play. That advantage remained over 20 for much of the remainder of the game as the Spirit punched its ticket to the title game in its first-ever appearance in the tournament.

OUAZ shot a season-high 57.9 percent from the field while scoring 42 points in the paint. They added eight threes at 47.1 percent and converted 21 of 24 at the foul line. While the Spirit did commit 17 turnovers, Westmont could only convert those into 12 points, while OUAZ got 21 points from the 16 Warriors turnovers.

Keshawn Bruner came through with his best performance of the season, scoring a season-high 26 points on 8 of 13 shooting. He added three makes from beyond the arc while going 7 of 9 at the stripe. Bruner scored 10 points in the first 4:15 of the game to set the tone for the evening.

As things settled in, the balanced attack of the Spirit began to shine as four other players reached double figures in points. Devin Collins scored 17 points while grabbing 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Josiah De'laCerda finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, with Kam Malbrough going for 14 points and three assists.

OUAZ had a 36-26 edge on the boards, and they held Westmont to 44.4 percent shooting.

Nate Meithof led the Warriors with 25 points.

The Spirit will play the winner of William Jessup and Hope International in Saturday's championship game at 6:30 p.m. (AZ).
 
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