REDEMPTION

By Brandon Petersen

Very little was going to stand in the way of the Westcliff men's basketball team Thursday night at Golden West where the Warriors took down Simpson in convincing fashion, 74-63.

The Dubs have lost just two Cal Pac contests all season, and one of them was to the Red Hawks on the road in Redding.

Thursday night, there was no messing around, as the Dubs raced out to a 15-point lead by halftime and never looked back.

Micaiah Hankins went off, finishing with a season-high 27 points to complement six assists and a pair of steals.

Hankins shot 9-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-8 from three.

"Micaiah was the best player on the floor tonight," Westcliff head coach Jerred Cook said. "He had it going early, and we just wanted to keep it within the flow. The unique thing about if for him tonight, in my opinion, it came within the flow of the game – it wasn't forced.

"The biggest thing I want him to work on is those free throws to put us over the top, but when you really look at it – he's come on down the stretch.

"It's that time of the year. It's winning time, and our leader led us to a victory tonight."

Rayven Turner, meanwhile, turned in his normal workmanlike performance, racking up a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds).

Evan Hoosier collected his own double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Marques Sales almost made it three double-doubles, coming up just shy at nine and nine.

Cameron Snyder got the start and finished with eight.

The Dubs shot a tidy 50% from the floor and 33.3% from range.

Their only struggle came at the line, where they nearly missed half of their free throws.

The Warriors also won the rebounding and turnover battles.

With the win, Westcliff moved to 7-2 in Cal Pac play, 12-7 overall.

"Losing this game last time to Simpson by one possession, we wanted to make sure we were definitive in our victory," Cook said. "The plan is the same when we play Merced on Saturday.

"We're still working on ourselves, still working on the habits we believe will lead to winning. We're going into that game all guns blazing, trying to win."

Because UC Merced knocked off La Sierra Thursday, the Warriors were then locked in with a second-place Cal Pac finish.

That will be good news come tournament time, as the Warriors will be favored to meet the Bobcats in the title bout.

Westcliff will meet UC Merced Saturday at Golden West in the regular season finale.

"It's a statement game for us," Cook said. "We let the game slip out of our hands when we were traveling to Merced.

"Our ultimate goal is the national tournament and the conference tournament championship. That's where our focus will continue to be. We're in a 1-0 mindset every time we play. Tonight was no different in that approach."

The Bobcats come calling on Sr. Night for a 4 p.m. tipoff.