By Eric Montgomery | NAIA Media Relations

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - (Box Score) - It should be no surprise on the 61 percent shooting accomplished by Westmont (Calif.) in the 77-60 victory on Wednesday over No. 12-seed Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Wednesday. In the battle of the Warriors, the Westmont Warriors entered the contest ranked in the top 10 in the NAIA in shooting percentage (.486). Westmont nearly shot at a lower percentage from the foul line (.613) than they did from the floor at the 2015 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship.

Westmont will now appear in its 11th second round contest and face No. 5 Campbellsville (Ky.) on Friday, March 20 at 9:45 p.m. CDT.

“A very nice team win against a very-very good opponent,” said Westmont Head Coach John Moore. “That was one of the best opponents we have played all season long. I loved the way we played defense tonight. Our defensive field goal percentage must be very high tonight. Our men were set and determined to come away with a win and it showed in their defensive game.”

The Warriors, the At-Large No. 7 team out of the Golden State Athletic Conference, never trailed in the contest. They led 37-27 at the half and was never threatened in the second frame. Westmont’s advantage never got less than eight points in the second frame, and that occurred right out of the locker room, 39-31, at the 17:40 mark.

The difference-maker was a 12-2 spurt, capped off by a 3-pointer from Sean Harman at the 12:50 mark. From that point on, Westmont salted the game away with high shooting percentage and defense.

There was balanced scoring from the Warriors with six players reaching at least eight points. Harman and Cory Blau finished with 12 points, Gerald Darczewski and Hayden Anderson had 10, while Daniel Carlin and Britton Williams chipped in eight.

Overall, 11 Warriors saw five-or-more minutes of action.

For Lewis-Clark State, Jacob Wiley led all scorers with 16 points and had six rebounds. Jamaal Thomas posted 12 points.

Lewis-Clark State shot 33.9 percent from the field, going 20-of-59 overall.

Lewis-Clark State bows out in the championship first round for the fifth-straight time. The loss ends the year at 25-8.

Game Notes:
Wesmont – Making first championship appearance since 2013 and improved to 17-16 all-time in the event… Westmont earns the second largest scoring margin of the 2015 event with 17 points (Martin Methodist vs SAGU, 74-56)… Entered the game No. 2 in the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage (0.402) and No. 8 in field goal percentage (0.486) – tonight, the Warriors were 61% from the field and 50% from the three-point line… Coming into the game, Sean Harman ranked No. 3 in the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage (0.482) – with two three-pointers, Harman shot 50% from behind the arc… The Warriors garnered 32 defensive rebounds in tonight’s game, 30 were defensive (ties 4th highest of the year) and 2 were offensive.

Lewis-Clark State – Entered the championship ranked second in NAIA in field goal percentage (50.9 percent), held to 33.9 percent tonight. … Jacob Wiley finishes with 16 points to lead the Warriors in scoring for the 14th time this season in 33 games. … Lowest single-game point total in a loss since Feb. 22, 2013 when they lost to Montana Western, 74-58… The seeded Warriors are part of a group to go 9-7 in the first round.