February 14, 2023

Warriors are in the Cal Pac Tournament!

Box Score

By Francisco Claudio

 
They are playoff bound!
 
On Monday, the Westcliff men's basketball team played the makeup game against Park Gilbert that was postponed the first time around. 
 
With the win 66-62, the Warriors have secured a post into the Cal Pac Tournament that will take place at the end of this month.
 
The Warriors' season started off slower than they would have liked, but the second half has had a lot of great results and positive things to look forward to.
 
Coming into this game they knew that one win would get them over the hurdle and into their first postseason of the program.
 
It wasn't an easy match as the Warriors had little time to rest and recover from their previous game before facing off with Park Gilbert.
 
Westcliff was ahead in the first half but it never felt comfortable enough as they headed into the locker room with a slight lead, 34-31.
 
Then in the second half, the Warriors looked like the team in control when they went up by double digits, 54-41.
 
But Park Gilbert found a way to make it a ball game after back-to-back three-pointers late in the second half. 
 
With under four minutes to play the Warriors' lead had shrunk to only two points, 61-59.
 
From here on out it was a battle of which team would make the first mistake and which would be able to capitalize off it.
 
But with a huge performance led by Cap Uzan, the Warriors were able to come out on top.
 
Uzan had a game-high 21 points, with seven rebounds, and two assists. He tied his season-high in made threes with seven of them. 
 
Josh Harrison helped with 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists.
 
Off the bench, Gary Harris provided a spark with nine points, six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks.
 
The Warriors currently sit in the fourth seed in the conference with three games left to play in their regular season. 
 
With the records of the other teams above them right now and amount of games they have left, Westcliff has the opportunity to move up in the standings when all is said and done.
 
It has been an incredible journey for this basketball team and it goes to show how strong the team is collectively and individually, and what a great job the entire coaching staff has done to get to this point.
 
The Warriors close out the season this week with three home games in the span of four days.
 
First, they will face off against Embry-Riddle on Thursday, Feb.16 with tip-off at 5:30 PM.