If someday the Princeton offense dominates the landscape of basketball in the country of China, sports historians will look back to the summer of 2010 when a college coach from Santa Barbara introduced the concept to a group of 100-150 Chinese coaches gathered in Xian’an China.

In an event sponsored by the Chinese University Basketball Association (CUBA), Westmont’s John Moore and seven other American coaches conducted training sessions for many of the countries’ top collegiate coaches. The American coaches were divided into two teams of four and asked to present two clinics a day – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the evenings, the Chinese teams competed in a tournament.

“I have a dear friend named Ken Wagner who is the BYU-Hawaii athletic director and men’s basketball coach,” said Moore. “He has been going over to China for 10 years working with CUBA. They have summits every year. I had no idea how large these events are. It is attended by the top universities and colleges in the country of China.”

After graduating five seniors from the 2009-10 men’s basketball team, Westmont Head Coach John Moore has announced the signing of nine new recruits for the 2010-11 season.

“This is potentially one of the strongest recruiting classes we have had in a long time,” said Moore of the incoming class of five freshmen and four transfers. “They fill a lot of different holes – from post players to guards to wings. Most of these recruits played for a team that was at the height of its success as a program. They are a group of winners who know how to compete at a high level.”

Among the transfer students is Landon Boucher (pronounced boo-SHAY) from Chemeketa Community College.

“Landon wanted to come last year but for a number of reasons it didn’t work for us,” reported Moore. “He moved to Santa Barbara from Oregon and has been in town all year working odd jobs and living here in town. Landon is a six-foot shooting guard who has the potential to be the best shooter in our program next year.”

Fourteen hundred miles away from Santa Barbara, Sylvester Spicer of Rogers State (Okla.) dropped two free throws through a net with three seconds left in overtime to hand #6 Southern Nazarene (Okla.) a 72-71 loss in the semifinals of the Sooner Athletic Conference. It also burst a bubble in the foothills of Santa Barbara.

Westmont Men’s Basketball, which was hoping for a at-large berth into the NAIA National Championships, was eliminated from consideration by Southern Nazarene’s loss.

Westmont men’s basketball suffered a 94-89 loss to #23 Fresno Pacific in the first round of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament. The loss means that Westmont’s last chance for advancing to the NAIA Tournament lies in receiving an at-large bid.

Two-time All-GSAC selection Dan Rasp led the Warriors with 28 points on 10-13 shooting from the floor and three other Warriors scored in double-digits. Matt LeDuc had 15 points and four rebounds. Blake Bender recorded 14 points and seven boards and Andrew Schmalbach added another 13 points.

Chris Jackson recorded double-digits in the assists column and also had eight points.

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After suffering a heartbreaking loss to Azusa Pacific in the final game of the Golden State Athletic Conference season on Monday night, Westmont Men’s Basketball begins play on Thursday in the first round of the GSAC Tournament.

In order to earn an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City, fifth-seeded Westmont will need to win the tournament championship, beginning with a match-up at twenty-three ranked and fourth-seeded Fresno Pacific. The Warriors and Sunbirds spilt their two regular season meetings with Fresno Pacific prevailing 67-61 in Fresno and Westmont winning 67-63 in Santa Barbara.

The Warriors led for all but seven minutes and 22 seconds of the ball game. Unfortunately for Westmont Men’s Basketball (21-8, 13-7), that did not include the final 1:23. The Warriors fell to the #24 Cougars of Azusa Pacific (21-9, 14-8 GSAC) by a score of 78-75 in the final Golden State Athletic Conference game for both teams.

The Warriors played in front of a packed house with the student-body turning out in white shirts to show their support for the Warriors. While the boisterous crowd had plenty to cheer about, there was little to be celebrated at the final buzzer.

“What great fan support, what a great environment for a college basketball game,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “Everything looked like it was going our way and it just tipped the wrong direction in the last two minutes. It just feels rough. Our guys are very, very disappointed. I told them that as proud of them as I am, I am even sadder for them.”

The Warriors led 73-66 with 2:55 to go, but were out scored 12-2 in the final two minutes of the game.

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Westmont Men’s Basketball (21-7, 13-6 GSAC) put itself into position to take a shot at a third-place finish in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings by defeating Vanguard in Costa Mesa by a score of 88-69. The Warriors are currently tied for third place in the GSAC with #24 Azusa Pacific (20-9, 13-6 GSAC) and will take on the Cougars on Monday night at Murchison Gymnasium in the final game of the regular season.

“It was a good win for us,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “I was encouraged by the way we played. Everything about it indicated that we were ready to play. (Former Coach) Chet Kammerer was here for the game and said that that the team has a different demeanor and confidence to it.”

Senior shooting guard Andrew Schmalbach made five of nine shots from beyond the arc to tally 15 points and push his career scoring total to 1,014 points. Schmalbach becomes the thirty-sixth member of the Warriors’ millennial club and is currently at number 33 on the career scoring list.

“Andrew’s shooting touch is back,” said Moore. “He has shot it very well the last few games. CJ (Chris Jackson) and others found him wide open at the three-point line and he was very aggressive.”

Fifteenth ranked Fresno Pacific (22-6, 12-6 GSAC) came into the game on an eight-game winning streak and one game ahead of Westmont Men’s Basketball in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings. They left Murchison Gymnasium the victims of a 67-63 Warrior win and in a three-way tie for third place in the GSAC standings with Westmont (20-7) and Azusa Pacific (19-9).

“It was a very nice win by the whole team,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “This is a big team win. We knew how important this was for us. We needed to win home games and to win home games against teams that have already beaten us. In the second half (of the GSAC schedule) we have beat three teams that beat us in the first half. That is a sign of a team that is maturing, a team that believes in itself and a team that is playing with great confidence.”

After going 5-5 the first trip through the GSAC schedule, the Warriors are now 7-1 in the second round and in possession of a six game winning streak.

“We’ve been playing well lately,” said point guard Chris Jackson. “We knew this was a huge game because they were ahead of us in the standings. We felt this was a must win for us on our home court.”

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