Box Score

After trailing by as many as 18 in the second half in a tough road environment, Fresno Pacific battled all the way back and would have a chance to take the lead in the game's final minute at Westmont. The Sunbirds were unable to convert however, falling to the Warriors 73-70 in Santa Barbara, Tuesday night.

FPU had the ball, down 70-68 with a minute remaining but came up short on a jumper and had to foul. The Warriors sank two free throws to make it a two-possession game and the Sunbirds missed a layup on the next possession, sealing their fate.

"When you play teams that are good and well-coached, you can't dig yourself an 18-point hole and expect to come back and win," said Sunbird coach Chris Wright. "I'm proud of the way we fought back, we really battled hard in the second half, but we had some extremely dumb plays that really hurt us."

The game wouldn't have even gotten to that point without the play of Jerante Morgan, whom the Warriors had no answer for in the second half. Morgan, who scored 22 of his game-high 26 points after halftime, put on a clinic in the second half, pulling out every move in the book and playing his mid-range game to perfection.

The loss is a tough one to swallow, however, as the two teams came into the game tied for fourth place with 5-3 GSAC records. The Warriors improve to 6-3, while FPU drops to sixth place at 5-4, just days before the conference schedule's midway point.

Westmont would close out the first half on a 26-12 run and lead 45-32 at halftime. The Warriors continued to get easy buckets in transition in the second half, going ahead 50-32 early on and still leading 55-40 with 13:40 remaining.

The Sunbird press and tough zone defense began to wear down the home team though, and the Warriors didn't score for nearly four minutes straight. Meanwhile, FPU got the ball inside to Morgan who time and time again beat his defender for an easy layup or mid-range jumper.

A 12-4 run during that span brought the Sunbirds within five with around nine minutes left. Unfortunately, the team's aggressive play on defense led to more foul calls and the Warriors consistently got to the line. Westmont failed to take full advantage of the opportunity though, getting 27 free-throw attempts but making 17.

Warrior free-throws allowed them to build the lead back up to seven with just over two minutes to play, but Morgan did the unexpected and pulled up for a deep three-pointer, sinking it to cut the lead to 70-66. After blocking a shot on the other end, Morgan drew a foul on the next possession and made both free throws to make the score 70-68.

After a Westmont miss and scramble for the rebound, Brandon Rowe came up with it and called timeout. With a chance to tie or take the lead, Jordan Wild was short on a jumper with 42 seconds left, leading to a Sunbird foul and two Warrior made free-throws.

The Sunbirds still had a chance, but a layup by Rowe rolled out with 15 seconds left, giving the Warriors more free-throws and later the victory.

Wild was FPU's second-leading scorer with 13 points and Casper Hesseldal added 10. Wild and Morgan led the team with six rebounds. Blake Bender led Westmont with 20 points, Marlow Brooks and Marcus Farrand added 14 each.

The Warriors shot 53 percent in the first half, but made just seven field goals in the second while the Sunbirds forced 18 total turnovers.

FPU returns home this Saturday to wrap up the first half of the GSAC schedule with a 4:30 matchup against Cal Baptist. The Lancers come in with a 9-9 record and are 3-6 (7th place) in GSAC play, but played first-place Concordia closely in a 72-69 loss tonight.

Around the GSAC
Vanguard (H) 69, San Diego Christian 59
#7 Azusa Pacific (H) 95, The Master's 82
#3 Concordia 72, California Baptist (H) 69
#15 Biola (H) 78, Hope International 63