January 7, 2005

Warriors Drop 54-35 league opener to Piedmont Hills

Westmont shoots 22 percent from the field in loss

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

The Westmont Warriors opened up Mount Hamilton Division play on a down note, dropping a 54-35 loss at home to the Piedmont Hills Pirates on Jan. 5.

The final score said it all, as the Westmont Warriors lost their Mt. Hamilton Division home opener on Jan. 5 to the Piedmont Hills Pirates. The Warriors had a tough night offensively, shooting 22 percent from the floor and going 0-for-11 from three-point range. Photo by Diego Abeloos.

For the Warriors (9-7 overall, 0-1 league), senior guard Casey Modiri and senior center Matt Hosack led the way on offense with eight points each, while Pirates guard Aaron Buckner led all scorers with 23 points, including nine points in the fourth quarter. For the game, the Warriors made only 22 percent of their shots and were 0-for-11 from three-point range.

“They’re a good team. There’s no doubt about it,” Modiri said after the game. “We’re just coming up from the B League (Santa Teresa Division), moving to the A league, so we got a pretty good taste of how the league plays.”

The Warriors never led in the contest, coming only as close as a 6-6 tie in the first quarter. Up 8-6 after the first period of play, the Pirates (12-3 overall, 1-0 league) opened up the second quarter by going on a 13-0 run, getting six points from Buckner and four points from Adrian Diaz during a four-minute and 16-second scoring stretch.

The Warriors finally broke their scoring drought with 3:44 left in the first half, when Modiri drove to the basket and dropped in a lay-up. Modiri’s basket began a modest 7-0 scoring run for the Warriors, closing out the second quarter with a 21-13 Pirates lead.

“If we shoot better, then we’re in the game,” Westmont Head Coach Bill Gerth said. “A seven or nine-point (deficit) is only three or four baskets, and on a good night, this team would usually make four or five more baskets to make it a game.”

The start of the third quarter saw the Pirates develop another scoring run, going on a 9-2 streak through the first three minutes of the second half to go up 30-15. Westmont’s lone basket during that stretch came from Modiri on a lay-up.

The Warriors responded with a short scoring stretch of its own, going on an 8-2 run in just over two minutes. During the run, the Warriors found their big man in the post, Hosack, for the first time in the game.

After being held scoreless throughout the first half, Hosack contributed six points through the last five minutes of the third quarter on two lay-ups and two free throws. By the end of the third quarter, the Warriors turned a 15-point deficit into a 34-25 Pirates advantage.

Despite a 54-35 loss to Mt. Hamilton Division rival Piedmont Hills on Jan. 5, Westmont Warriors guard Casey Modiri still took the time to crack a smile following the game. Modiri, along with teammate Matt Hosack, led the Warriors on offense with eight points each in their league opener at home. Photo by Diego Abeloos.

“They know who our go-to guy is and definitely, they took that part of our game away,” Modiri said of the offense’s struggle to get the ball to Hosack. “We’ll just have to [recuperate] from that and try to get some different plays in so we can get the ball to our center.”

The fourth quarter proved to be the Warriors breaking point. After battling back from double-digit deficits twice already, Westmont couldn’t overcome the Pirates offensive firepower.

The Pirates put together their third significant scoring run to open the fourth quarter, outscoring the Warriors 18-4 through six minutes. Buckner took over on offense for the Pirates, scoring nine points during that stretch, including seven straight points to put his team up 52-29 at the end of the stretch.

“He can straight-up play,” Modiri said of Buckner. “He’s probably the best one in Mount Hamilton, in the BVAL. It was definitely tough guarding him.”

The Warriors could only muster a small scoring advantage to close out the game, going on a 6-2 scoring advantage to end the game at 54-35.

“They just played pressure defense and if you can’t handle their pressure, then the ball’s going to roll their way,”
Gerth said of Piedmont Hills. “We had it down within nine points and the ball in the third period. If we could’ve made something happen with that possession, we would’ve gotten it down to six or seven points … basically it was their night and not our night.”