COSTA MESA -- Vanguard men's basketball might have come up short of 90 points for the first time in the past four games, but that did not stop the Lions from making it three wins in a row after an 86-74 victory over Westcliff Wednesday night.  The Lions made 60% of their three-point shots on the night and four Lions hit double figures, with Jackson Larsen leading once again with 16 points.  The Blue and Gold also made the Warriors pay in transition, as VU outscored Westcliff 25-4 off turnovers and 14-6 on fast-break opportunities.  The Lions improve to 4-1 and drop the Warriors to 0-3.
 
What Happened?  Preston Sims and Nico Dasca sank early buckets for VU, but the Warriors responded to keep it even at 4-4 with two minutes gone.  Phillip Willis and Sims soon connected on back-to-back threes to give the impression that the Lions were ready to run away into the night with the contest.  But Westcliff came to play, and the visitors outscored the home side 10-2 over the next three minutes to take a 15-12 edge.  A timeout for the Lions settled the squad and a splash down from downtown by Micah Swartz leveled the score.
 
Mitchell Prevost made a layup to put Vanguard ahead 17-15 with 13:05 left in the first half and though Westcliff had a few runs during the night, the Lions would lead the rest of the way. 
 
The Lions remained in front by six or eight points for most of the half, but VU started to pull away towards the end of the period.  A jumper for Larsen made it 35-24 and despite a quick layup at the other end, the squad found an open Cam'Ron Wilson, who buried a three to increase the lead to 38-26.  Another jumper from Larsen and a free throw for Swartz made it a 41-27 advantage with 1:38 to go in the first frame.  Westcliff's Marques Sales landed a three right before the buzzer sounded, as VU took a 41-30 lead into the second period.  The Lions hit 51.6% of their shots from the floor in the first half, while Westcliff ended the first frame at a 44% clip.
 
The second period began to open up as half moved along, with the teams exchanging end-to-end runs.  The Warriors closed to within seven points over the first two minutes of the new half but back-to-back threes from Larsen and Dasca made for the perfect rebuttal.  Westcliff again trimmed the lead to 10 with 15:12 to go in the game, but Wilson and Anthony Tello made contested layups to run the lead back up to 14 at 55-41.
 
The Warriors made their final rally at the 11-minute mark, chipping the gap down to eight, but that would be as close as it would get.  Willis sunk five points in quick succession, with a Prevost layup sandwiched between his makes, to run the lead to 72-57, and the gap would not shrink to single digits again. Bryson Metz rolled in a couple of jumpers during the second half and Tello would net 10 of his 14 points as the Lions cruised to an 86-74 win.  The Lions shot 46.9% in the second frame and 57.1% from beyond the arc, while Westcliff improved to a 53.3% shooting percentage in the second half.
 
For the game, Vanguard went 9-for-15 from downtown and had a 42-31 edge in points off the bench.  The team also shot 57.7% from the free-throw line.  Westcliff shot 49.1% from the floor for the game and made only five threes (27.8%), but held a 41-31 edge in rebounds and a 36-34 lead in points scored in the paint.
 
Larsen was 6-for-10 from the floor en route to 16 points and six rebounds.  Willis made two shots from deep to help rack up 14 points and paced the Lions with eight rebounds.  Tello had four assists to pair with his 14 points and the guard made all four of his free throw attempts.  Swartz went 2-2 from downtown and 4-for-5 from the stripe to net 10 points, while Dasca had seven points and Prevost six.
 
Why is it Important?  The Lions remain perfect against Westcliff (7-0).  Larsen has now carded over 10 points in his past three games and Tello and Willis have hit double figures in four of the five games VU has played in.
 
 
What was Said? After the game, Head Coach Rhett Soliday said, "Westcliff is a good team with national tournament experience.  They played really hard and exposed us in some areas tonight.  I'm proud of the guys for the way they hung in there and overcame an aggressive Westcliff attack in the second half.  We had five guys in double figures and we were positive in our assist-to-turnover ratio, with only nine TOs while forcing 21.  When we have those numbers, we tend to get the result we want.  If we had been a little sharper offensively, and made our free throws, I feel we could have stretched the lead earlier, but those are things we can learn from and continue to improve on."
 
What's Next?  The Lions will have another crack at an NCAA DI foe, as VU will head to Riverside to play Cal Baptist on Saturday at 5pm.