Shooting Woes Doom Warriors in Loss to Bellevue

by BRANDON PETERSEN

The Westcliff men's basketball team left it all on the floor Thursday night in a 62-48 loss to Bellevue (Nebraska) at the Jordan Lawley Center.

In the end though, the ball must go in the bucket, and the Warriors had a hard time getting shots to fall.

"I thought we came out extremely enthusiastic tonight," Westcliff senior associate head coach Andre Wallace said. "Obviously, (Bellevue) was (Head) Coach (Jerred) Cook's alma mater, and we wanted to come out a get a victory for him."

"When you shoot 20-of-62, you leave a lot on the table," Wallace said. "Our approach tomorrow: We have to get shots. We have to defend and limit teams to one possession. Tonight, we just didn't do that."

The Warriors shot 34% from the field and missed on 11 three-point attempts. The free throw shooting suffered as well (53.3%).

Joshua Jones finished with 10 points and five boards, while Cedric Sobers had 10 points, three boards and a steal.

Marius Ntwari turned in eight, while Adofo Thomas and Greg Walter Jr. had six apiece.

"We just didn't shoot well," Wallace said. "Also, on the defensive end, we lacked in our coverages, and when you lack in coverages, on the switch, you create mismatches for yourself with their bigs on our smaller guys.

"They were getting shots like that two feet from the basket – obviously you're going to score those most of the time."

The Warriors have very little time to worry about their off-shooting night.

Friday, they face the third-ranked Tornadoes of Talladega (Alabama) at Goldenwest College.

"It's going to be another challenge," Wallace said. "But we look forward to it."

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.