Timothy Broomfield, scored 22 points, draining seven of eight shots from beyond the arc, to lead the #11 Choctaws of Mississippi College to a 81-77 victory over #24 Westmont in the championship game of the 31st Annual Tom Byron Classic. Broomfield was selected as the tournament’s MVP. Also named to the All-Tournament team were Mississippi’s Marcus Evans and D.J. Jones, Johns Hopkins’ Doug Polster and Westmont’s Santiago Aguirre and Josh Ware.

The Mississippi College Choctaws bolted out of the gate to a 14-5 lead, culminating in a jumper by Evans (15 points, 5 rebounds) with 15:33 remaining in the first half. But Tyler Dutton (5 points) put the Warriors back on the right track, starting off a 12-2 run by nailing a three-point bucket. Luke Allen (16 points, 6 rebounds) followed Dutton’s example of three-point success to narrow the margin to 17-11. Josh Ware (18 points) then cut to the basket and scored off an assist from Alex Shorts (5 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) and Santiago Aguirre (27 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) completed the run with two layups of his own, resulting in a 17-17 tie with 10:52 to play in the opening period.

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#24 Westmont men’s basketball (6-2) earned a date with Mississippi College (8-1) in the championship game of the 31st Annual Tom Byron Classic by defeating Thomas More of Kentucky (0-11) by a score of 77-47 on Friday night at Murchison Gymnasium. #11 Mississippi earned their place in the final by virtue of a 75-51 win over #13 Johns Hopkins of Maryland (9-1). A consolation game will be held Saturday evening at 5:30 with the championship showdown scheduled for 7:30.

“We had a fast start,” said junior guard Josh Ware. “We knew that if you have a slow start that anything is possible. Anyone can stick with anyone. So if we jumped on them early and had a fast start, we knew we could win.”

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Despite posting a 41-26 half time lead over #6 Minot State (N.D.), #21 Westmont women’s basketball ended their eight-game winning streak with a 66-59 loss. The Warriors led 53-42 midway through the second half, but could muster only six points in the final 10 minutes of play.

“This game is a good growing experience for a young team,” said head coach Kirsten McKnight. “In the first half, we played probably the best half of basketball that we have all year. Our pressure defense was great and we forced 20 turnovers. Then in the second half we had an opportunity to build on that lead but missed a lot of layups and didn’t take advantage of our early opportunities. Minot State was able to get momentum going and we couldn’t seem to buy a bucket down the stretch whether it was a layup or a free throw or an outside shot. That is were we have to be able to rely on our defense, which we have been able to do in our wins. But we didn’t keep it going for 40 minutes today. We’re young and can learn from this. We believe in what we are doing – we just need to execute it for the whole game.”

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Senior Jenn Tolle recorded her first collegiate double-double and re-wrote the Warrior record book as #21 Westmont women’s basketball extended its winning streak to eight games on Thursday at Murchison Gymnasium. The Warriors (8-1), which had five players score in double figures, produced a team effort to record a 93-54 win over Houghton of New York (3-5).

Tolle led the Warriors in both scoring and rebounding with 21 points and 10 boards. She shot 90% from the floor (nine of ten) to set a new single game field goal percentage record for Westmont. The previous record was held by Julia Morrow and Jasmyne Olson who each made eight of nine attempts against Christian Heritage (Jan. 8, 2005) and Vanguard (Mar. 2, 1999) respectively.

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Three NCAA Division III men’s basketball programs will visit Murchison Gymnasium on the Westmont campus next week to participate in 31st Annual Tom Byron Classic. The prestigious tournament honors Tom Byron who, in addition to serving as Dean of Men at Westmont, coached the Warriors from 1965-70.

After turning over the coaching reigns to Jim Larson in the 1970-71 season, Byron resumed the head coaching role in the fall of 1971 and guided the Warriors to a 10-0 start. At the age of 43, however, Byron succumbed to cancer. The next evening, interim coach Ron Mulder and the Warriors hosted Hawaii which at the time had accrued a record of 16-1 and a #14 NCAA Division I ranking. In a tribute to Coach Byron, the Warriors pulled off a come-from-behind upset, defeating the Rainbows 90-89 behind 34 points and 22 rebounds by Fred DeVaughn.

Westmont women’s basketball will return to the hardwood of Murchison Gymnasium with two games after Christmas. The #21 Warriors will host two NAIA Division II teams beginning with Houghton of New York of Thursday, December 28 and concluding with #6 Minot State of North Dakota on Friday, December 29. Thursday’s game will be played at 1:00 p.m. with Friday’s game scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.

The Warriors (7-1) will be looking to extend their winning streak to eight games when they take on the Highlanders of Houghton. Sophomore post player Ali Mooty leads the team with both a 16.2 point per game scoring average and a rebounding average of 8.7 boards.

Freshman Jessica Case scored 20 points including 18 from three-point territory, but #21 Westmont women’s basketball (7-1) suffered a 67-46 exhibition loss to NCAA Division I opponent UC Davis. Case made six out of 12 attempts from long range. UC Davis, which counted the game under NCAA rules, improved to 4-7.

Case hit the first of her three-pointers to open the game with a 3-0 Warrior lead. But Westmont, who had not played in 16 days, struggled to knock the rust off over the next nine and one-half minutes as the Aggies went on a 22-0 run while the Warriors committed eight turnovers and missed five shots. The lengthy run proved to be the difference in the game.

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Luke Allen drained a three-point bucket with less the five second on the clock in regulation to send the Westmont men’s basketball game with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (6-1) into overtime with the score tied at 68 points each. Allen recorded a career high 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the Warriors’ win.

#22 Westmont (5-2) led the Stags of Claremont by three points (32-29) at the intermission. Senior Santiago Aguirre recorded 14 points and six rebounds in the first half alone. His 14 points included an 8-for-8 success rate at the free throw line. Aguirre went on to score 24 points in the game and collect 15 rebounds. He also notched three assists and sank 14 of 16 free throws.

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