Posted: Jan 24, 2024
The Westcliff men's basketball team has begun to hit their stride as they earned another big win against the University of Saint Katherine, 73-70.
More importantly, it was their fourth win in a row as they improved to (8-8, Cal Pac 7-4).
The win boosted them to fourth place in the conference standings and they are just one game away from the third seed, UC Merced.
The Warriors started a little slow and were down early on 8-2. But Korey Hess immediately took care of that as he went on a solo 9-0 run and gave Westcliff the lead 11-10.
The game remained tight as neither team could take more than a four-point lead as the first half came to a close.
John Duff finished it on a good note as he scored a layup to put WU up 38-36.
The leading scorer for the Warriors going into the half-time break was Hess who got all nine of his points during the heroic run to put them back into the game.
For much of the second half the score stayed relatively close with the Warriors enjoying just a two-point, sometimes four-point lead.
With 10 minutes to go, Micaiah Hankins scored a three to put the Warriors up 57-51, the largest lead up to that point.
This was a pivotal point in the game as the visiting team held on to the lead and responded to every attempt that USK threw at them.
For the game, Westcliff shot 48% from the field and 72% from the free-throw line.
Duff led the way in scoring and rebounding for both teams in the second half. He almost had himself a double-double just in the second half scoring 10 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
He earned his double-double as he ended the game with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Jamal Briscoe, Hess, and Hankins all finished with 12 points which is the first time this season that four players score in double digits in a single game.
Next up for the Warriors, they will be back at home as they take on the No. 1 seed UAV on Thursday.
The game will be held at the Jordan Lawley Gym with a start time of 7:30 PM.
