Monterey Times

Vanguard University recently issued the following announcement.

 Shooting a season-best 51.6 percent from the field, Vanguard men's basketball posted an 81-65 victory over Westcliff to conclude the Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday at The Pit.

The Lions (5-3) limited the Warriors (2-3) to 36.9 percent shooting, marking the second straight game they have held an opponent under 40 percent from the field.

Garrett White (SR/Post Falls, ID) led all scorers with 17 points and nearly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Isaac Davis (SR/Valencia, CA) added 13 points, five rebounds and five assists while Jordan Caruso (JR/New York, NY) chipped in 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting off the bench.

The Lions owned a 48-31 advantage on the glass and did not allow a three-pointer to the Warriors, who finished 0-for-5 from deep. In contrast, the Lions were 9-of-23 (39.1%) from three-point land. Vanguard is 4-0 this season when hitting at least nine threes.

Joshua Jones led the Warriors with 14 points.

What Happened?: Westcliff held its first and only lead of the game as Joshua Harrison opened the scoring with a layup. Masie Mohammadi (SR/San Carlos, CA) responded with a three-pointer and the Lions led the rest of the way.

The Lions held a four-point lead at 21-17 with 9:44 to go in the first half, but went on a 13-4 run to go up 34-21. Three straight buckets by White and a trey from Mohammadi keyed that spurt.

Jon Scherer (JR/Mission Viejo, CA) came off the bench to hit a couple of threes and a late free throw from Phillip Willis (JR/San Diego, CA) gave the Lions a 45-29 edge at intermission.

Vanguard applied more pressure to start the second half and used an 11-2 push to take its largest lead of the game, 56-31, with 16:16 to go as White got loose for another bucket.

Westcliff made things interesting, cutting its deficit to 10 at 60-50 on a conventional three-point play from Jones with 9:45 to go. The Lions emerged out of the timeout with Mohammadi's third three to go back up 63-50. Abdul Abdullah made a layup to as the Warriors closed within 65-53, but Caruso scored seven points over a three-minute stretch to prevent the Warriors from making the game any tighter.

Davis scored the final six points for the Lions to close out the 81-65 win.

Why Is It Important?: The Lions have now won five of their last six games as they delve back into conference play next week. They limited both of their Thanksgiving Classic opponents – UC Merced and Westcliff – to an identical 65 points.

What Was Said?: "Westcliff is a program that has improved every year under Jerred's (Cook) leadership. Coming off a huge win against Hope we knew they had great momentum and it was going to take a great effort to get it done," said Head Coach Rhett Soliday. "I'm proud of the way guys prepared and competed tonight. We were very balanced in the first half and that gave us a lift offensively. We were fortunate to have a big lead at half, knowing that Westcliff was not going to quit. They played us even in a very physical second half and both teams played really hard. We will learn a lot from this game as we prepare for another round of GSAC play next week with a good Life Pacific team."

What's Next?: Vanguard returns to the court on Thursday, Dec. 2 with a road matchup against Life Pacific to continue Golden State Athletic Conference play. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Original source can be found here.