Dub-le Trouble: Turner & Hankins lead Warriors past LP Again

By Brandon Petersen

Perhaps it was the Friendsgiving feast that roused the beasts in Rayven Turner and Micaiah Hankins Tuesday night at Life Pacific, where the Warriors clipped the Warriors for the second straight game on their home court.

Earlier in the day, Turner and Hankins enjoyed Friendsgiving alongside their teammates at the WALL in Foothill Ranch before heading to San Dimas.

Well-fed and well-rested, the pair of captains put in work under the lights Tuesday night, finishing with a combined 28 points, nearly half of Westcliff's total in a 60-52 win.

Turner was particularly impressive.

Check out this line: 13 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and a perfect 2-of-2 at the stripe, while raining 3-of-5 from range.

"Rayven is much more comfortable now in his role than he was last year," Westcliff head coach Jerred Cook said. "He's showing a different side that I didn't know he had. He's big-time for us on the glass, 14 rebounds, and still efficient from the field. You gotta know where's he at at the three-point line.

"And if he's putting it together now on the defensive end, where he can rebound -- and I believe he had four offensive boards as well -- he's just bringing a another aspect to the game that you have to scout for." 

Hankins wasn't bad himself: A game-high 15 points on 6-of-12 from the floor, 3-of-5 from the stripe, four rebounds, two assists and just one foul to his name.

The Warriors shot a little off their usual percentages, but their defensive effort picked up the slack.

"Much rather learn these types of lessons in a win, than a loss, but, they are lessons, and we have to get better," Cook said. "Tonight showed that even if we're not shooting well, we can hang our hat on the defensive end."

Life Pacific shot from 3-of-26 from the three-point line, which turned out to be the difference on a night when the rest of the stat sheet was relatively even across the board.

"It's a staple in our program (defensively) – no threes, no layups," Cook said. "And as we know, the game has evolved and the three-point shot is usually a separator. We were able to effectively arrive on the catch today, forced them to take contested threes, and it paid dividends down the stretch for us."

The Warriors won the rebounding, paint and steal categories.

Raymond Hawkins came up clutch with two minutes left when he sent in an and-one floater and sunk the free throw to put the Warriors up seven.

Hawkins finished with nine and two, while Lorenzo Marsh tuned in eight and five.

Marques Sales was perfect from the floor and finished with seven and six.

"Playing a team twice is hard enough, but beating a team twice is even harder," Cook said. "Credit to Life Pacific for their effort. They are very well coached and well disciplined. They gave us a game tonight that went way different than the first time we played them. So credit to them and their scout. We just have to continue to get better from this moment. 

"We're excited to touch the break with the victory. Now, we have to focus in on our trip to Arizona, where we need to come out of that 2-0."

The Dubs will now break for Thanksgiving before regrouping after the pause in preparation for that Dec. 5^th and 6^th road trip to Arizona.

Westcliff (2-1) will dance the OUAZ, BENU two-step before returning to Irvine to host Thompson River University on Dec. 18^th and Indiana Tech on Dec. 19^th.