Fullerton, Calif. - The OUAZ men's basketball team remained undefeated (4-0) all-time in Golden State Athletic Conference tournament action by beating Westmont College 93-73 in the opening game of the league tournament. The fifth-seeded Spirit shot a blistering 74% (20-27) in the final 20 minutes to outscore fourth-seeded Warriors by 22.
The win improves OUAZ's to 19-9 overall, snaps its two-game losing streak and advances them to the semifinals to play the top-seed and No. 2 ranked Arizona Christian tomorrow at 5 pm (PST). The Spirit have never beaten ACU in 12 attempts, however four of the last five (including both this season) have been decided by seven or less points.
The Spirit trailed 40-38 at halftime with their all-conference picks Josiah De'laCerda and Keshawn Bruner combining for only 13 points. At the same time, Westmont hit 54.9% of its shots from the floor to help turn an 8-point deficit into the slim lead at intermission. The lead exchanged hands in the second half until 12:01 when a Spirit 21-0 run over the next six minutes put the game out of reach. In that span, Bruner scored six, Alex Villi had six and De'laCerda had 5 and Kolten Hitt had four.
For the game OUAZ's dynamic duo (De'laCerda and Bruner) finished 38 points (20 by Bruner), 11 rebounds and connected on 14-of-17 shots from the floor (3-for-3 from behind the arc). Jayce Catchings had 13 points, Kolten Hitt and Alex Villi each posted 12 and Josh Rivers finished with 10.
Worth Noting
The 93 points marks the second time OUAZ has topped 90 points against Westmont in the conference tournament. Last year the final scored was 95-76…The last three seasons OUAZ is 20-0 when scoring 90 or more points…The Spirit need one more win to record 20 wins in a second for the second time in its history…Over the past three games De'laCerda is averaging 21.7 ppg on .500 shooting from the floor (24-48)… In the same span Catchings is averaging 13.3 ppg and hitting 68.2% (15-22) of his shots…The 11 rebounds by Devin Collins against Westmont marked the 13th time he has grabbed more than 10 in a game this season.
