Box Score

#12 Westmont came back from a 15-point first-half deficit to knock off Fresno Pacific 60-58 on the Sunbirds' home court Tuesday night. The Sunbirds (12-8, 3-6 GSAC) led 25-10 with five minutes left in the first half and 29-22 at halftime before the Warriors stormed back to make for an exciting second half. The win put the Warriors (15-3, 7-2 GSAC) in sole possesion of first place in the GSAC at the conference's midway point.

FPU had a very good chance at the end, down by three with 16 seconds left, but a Kenny Bradford three-pointer bounced off the rim twice before falling into the hands of a Westmont player. The Sunbirds are now halfway through the conference schedule, with a 3-6 record that could easily be flip-flopped considering how many of those losses have come down to the wire.

FPU, which has struggled in the second half throughout the season, would allow the Warriors to get back into rhythm with a 14-5 run to start the second half and take the lead. A Bradford three-pointer would tie things up, but the Warriors steadily built up a six-point lead with 5:30 left in the game.

Bradford would find Antonio Credit for an alley-oop layup, then knock down a three from the top of the key and the Sunbirds suddenly trailed by just one, 52-51 with 2:40 to play. The teams exchanged buckets, before a costly Sunbird turnover with 1:15 left led to two free-throws on the other end.

Donte Nicholas quickly drove in and found Eric Hipolito for a layup to cut the deficit back down to one, but Westmont took some time off the shot clock and drove in for a layup of their own to make it 58-55. That was when Bradford's three went up, and the crowd held its breath as the ball looked like it would bounce in. Unfortunately it instead found the hands of a Westmont rebounder and FPU was forced to foul.

After two Warrior free-throws, with 6.7 seconds left, Bradford knocked down a three-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining. The Warriors wisely threw the ball to the other end of the court and time would expire.

Cooper Damron led the Warriors with 17 points. Preston Branson added 15 and Christopher Miller had 12 points and eight rebounds as the Warriors shot 54 percent in the second half.

Hipolito finished with 14 to lead the Sunbirds. Credit and Bradford had 11 each and Matt Christman would finish with 10. Nicholas scored eight points, the first time he's been held under double figures all season, but did have a game-best nine assists. Credit led all rebounders with nine.

The Sunbirds start the second half of GSAC play with one of the toughest possible matchups, #18 Concordia on the road in Irvine. The Eagles defeated FPU 73-58 back in December when Concordia was ranked #4. The teams match up on Saturday at 7:30 pm.

Around the GSAC
Vanguard (H) 84, Hope International 66
#18 Concordia 79, Point Loma Nazarene (H) 76
Biola 62, San Diego Christian (H) 60
#16 Azusa Pacific (H) 77, #10 The Master's 63