Westmont Rallies to Surprise Salem-Teikyo, 75-71

Westmont College defeated third-seeded Salem-Teikyo of West Virginia, 75-71, on Wednesday in the first round of the NAIA basketball tournament.

But the Warriors did not consider the victory a surprise.

“That was not an upset,” said guard Zak DeMatteo, who made three three-point shots in the last 5:14 to help Westmont rally.

Westmont (19-12) trailed by nine points with a little more than eight minutes to play when Coach John Moore called a timeout.

“I gave them my Vince Lombardi speech,” Moore joked. “No, really, I told them that if (Salem-Teikyo) won, it would be because we lost.

“I don’t think it’s an upset because we’ve been playing great basketball the past few games, and I think we proved it by beating the No. 5- (Azusa Pacific) and No. 4-ranked teams (Salem-Teikyo).”

Mike Spears led all scorers with 18 points, including Westmont’s first eight.

“We wanted to establish the inside game first, so I was getting the ball more in the first half,” Spears said. “That really opened things up for the threes later on. Those were clutch.”

Westmont did not lead in the second half until DeMatteo’s three-pointer gave the Warriors a 62-61 advantage with 3:33 left. His three-point basket with 5:14 left had tied the score, 57-57.

DeMatteo had 12 points--on four three-point baskets--and Eric Simoni and Matt Gazaway each had 10 points.

Westmont will play Life College of Georgia today in a second-round game. Life (24-9) was also unseeded.