Sloppy Westmont Loses Ugly, 85-65

Westmont Coach John Moore was not sure he wanted to look at the box score.

That’s how badly his team had played in losing, 85-65, to Life College of Marietta, Ga., in a second-round game of the NAIA basketball tournament Thursday.

When he did look, it was as bad as he’d feared.

Westmont (19-13) turned the ball over 16 times in the first half and top shooter Zak DeMatteo missed all 13 of his shots. The Santa Barbara school trailed early in the game, 11-0, and never got closer than 10 after that.

“When we were down by 11, I thought, ‘If we can get a couple of baskets, we’ll be back in it,” Moore said. “Well, we ran into a buzz saw.”

Life’s pressure defense kept Westmont’s guards from getting the ball to top forward Mike Spears, who ended up with 12 points. Without DeMatteo’s outside shooting and Spears’ usual work inside, Westmont was sunk.

The defense also led to easy shots, including 26 points on layups.

Life guard Billy Lewis led all scorers with 28 points.

Life (25-9) will play Hawaii Pacific today in a quarterfinal.