COSTA MESA, Calif. - The Lions (5-1,1-0) began a three-set slate against the Westmont Warriors (3-3,0-1) over the course of the next five days. Vanguard created their own energy on Bill and Shirley Reynolds Court winning by a score of 87-73.
What Happened? The opening handful of minutes were a back-and-forth affair as the two teams wee feeling each other out. With the score showing 7-6 at the 17:38 mark, the Pride grabbed the lead for good as they would eventually balloon it to eight points. Both times it was achieved on a basket by Nico Dasca (SO/Costa Mesa, CA). For a quick moment, the Lions took a nine-point edge, but it was trimmed to only four with 80 seconds remaining in the half. A steal, layup, and converted free throw by Masie Mohammadi (JR/San Carlos, CA) gave the Pride a 40-31 edge going into the halftime intermission. The Lions held a 22-16 margin in points in the paint, scored five more points off the bench that Westmont, and converted at a 54% rate on field goals.
As the final 20 minutes of play began, a tough lay in by Aziz Seck (SR/Dakar, Senegal) moved the lead to 47-33, but the Warriors fought back to close it to an eight-point margin with 13:52 left. Nearing the midway point of the half, Vanguard held a slight 55-49 lead but went on a 8-0 run by the bench to take control of the game. The lowest the margin got was 82-73 with just over 50 second to go, but the energy in The Pit never made it feel that close.
Why It's Important? This is the first conference game of the year for the Blue and Gold. The Warriors are always a tough opponent as they were ranked as high as fourth in the NAIA last season and knocked off the Pride all-three times they competed a year ago. Each game in the trio ended with a final score within five points. Over the course of the last 10 times they have played, the Lions have been victorious only three times. In both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 season, the Lions were victorious at home over the Warriors.
Top Performers: Aziz Seck recorded a team high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds and three blocks in just 26 minutes of game time. Four other Lions scored double digits as Dasca dropped 12 off the bench and James Moore (SR/Talco, TX) added 10 off the pine as well. Starting point guard Isaac Davis (JR/Valencia, CA) tallied 11 points along with seven assists; Masie Mohammadi made two of the teams four three-points on his way to 14 points.
What They Said: Aziz Seck "The highlights are just the whole team getting stops at all times. You know there was a stretch where we were just getting stops on stops on stops and that actually helped us build up our momentum to get the win."
What's Next: The Lions head up to Westmont for the second and third game of this three-game series. Game two will take place on Friday, February 12th at 7:00 p.m.
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