Rocklin, Calif. – Looking to move to 2-0 on the young GSAC season, the Warriors (6-4, 1-1) welcomed a familiar foe in the likes of former CALPAC rivals the Menlo College Oaks Tuesday night. Jessup's shooting put them in a whole early, and a strong second half run by the Oaks sent the Warriors home empty-handed with a 62-52 loss.
The game started off on a miscue Tuesday as Menlo got their first point before the clock ever started after an administrative technical foul. The Warriors bounced back quickly from it, finding a quick 9-4 lead after dominating the offensive boards.
The Oaks of Menlo found their own niche in the form three-point shooting and closed the gap back to 13-13 with nine minutes remaining in the first half. The trend continued as Ryan Wilson hit two long range balls in a row to take an eight point lead and forcing Jessup to burn their first time out of the game heading into the home stretch of the first half.
Jessup mustered up some momentum in the final four minutes of the half as senior Brenton Muldrow (Riverside, CA) answered from the behind the long range line opening up the layups and fueling Jessup's 7-2 run to close the half down just a single point 28-27.
"The first half I think we executed extremely well offensively," said head Jessup coach Lance Von Vogt. "We had Guillermo (Nunez) and Kelton (Newman) shooting wide open top of the key threes. We just couldn't make anything; we shot 25% from the field and were only down one. We felt good, outrebounding them on the boards, getting shots around the goal, we just couldn't get them to go in."
The second half was a battle between Menlo's outside shooters vs Jessup's inside power. Menlo knocked down three-after-three and Jessup fought underneath the basket pounding the ball into the post; gaining second, and third chance opportunities from offensive rebounds. By the end of the game, Jessup had out-rebounded the oaks by 19.
Despite Jessup's dominance on the glass, they simply couldn't coax the second and third chance opportunities through the net. The game started to feel bleak for Jessup as they found themselves down nine at the quarter mark. The Warriors continued to battle down low, sticking to the game plan and closing the gap to five, but Menlo hit two hook shots of their own from the post to stave off the Warrior run. The Oaks would maintain their advantage to the end when the final score stood 62-52 Oaks.
"Give Menlo credit, they made shots," Von Vogt said. "If they were open, the ball went in. I thought for the most part we played pretty well defensively, we had a couple break downs but overall it wasn't bad, but every time we made a mistake Menlo capitalized. I figured in the second half the light bulb would come on for us but it never did, it was like somebody had a piece of saran wrap over our rim."
Leading the scoring Tuesday night for Jessup was senior forward Corey Clement (Las Vegas, NV). Clement totaled 16 points while bringing down 8-rebounds. Senior Andre Smith (San Diego, CA) added 8 points while recording a game high 13 rebounds. Senior Desmond Floyd (Gilbert, AZ) finished with 11 points.
The season moves on as the Warrior men will be traveling to a tournament in Phoenix Arizona over the weekend, and they will face off with Yellowstone Christian on Friday, December 18 before taking on Montana Tech on Saturday, December 19. Jessup will not return home until 2016 when they host Biola University on January 14.
"Were just going to keep digging in, leaning in, keep playing for each other," concluded Von Vogt. "We'll tighten things up, work to get easy shots; there wasn't a lot of bad shots that were out there tonight we just didn't make the shots we had."
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William Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on William Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: William Jessup University Athletics (Facebook), @JessupAthletics (Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat).
