Men’s basketball: Vanguard wins

Amara Aguilar

COSTA MESA - The Vanguard University men’s basketball has been

burned by the University of Montana-Western before.

So the Lions didn’t take the Bulldogs lightly this time around to earn

a convincing, 86-78, nonconference victory at The Pit Friday night.

Garid Beeler led the charge with 21 points and was responsible for an

8-0 spurt in the second half that kept the momentum rolling for Vanguard.

Damion Morbley added 20 points for Vanguard.

“We had a little dry spell in the second half where we really didn’t

score and (the Bulldogs) came out and hit a couple shots,” Morbley said.

“So Garid came in and provided a good spark for us. We still have to

rebound and keep the intensity up.”

Morbley took care of the majority of the Lions’ rebounding, piling up

11 in the first half and finishing with 16 in the game.

Vanguard (5-7) began the first half strong, going on a 13-3 run to

open the contest. The Bulldogs (7-6) battled back, coming within five

points with 6:58 left in the half on a free throw by Greg Enns that made

the score, 26-21.

The Lions dispelled Montana-Western’s hope of a comeback in the first

half, going on a 9-0 run just before the break to take a 47-31 lead at

halftime.

Montana-Western came up with four three-pointers early in the second

half and trailed, 68-62, with 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Beeler made a two-pointer to ignite the Lions, Shane McKim made a free

throw and Beeler scored eight straight points to give Vanguard a

comfortable 79-64 cushion.

“(The Bulldogs) were coming back into it and Garid just played real

well,” Vanguard Coach Stephen French said. “He’s capable of playing like

that all the time and I was happy to see him get back into the groove.”

Montana-Western scored the last 10 points of the game, but it was too

little too late.

“(The Bulldogs) are a dangerous team because they shoot a lot of

threes and they don’t care if they are up by 20 or down 20, they are

going to keep shooting them,” French said. “Last year we were up by 14 at

halftime and we lost the game by 20 because they just kept pushing it and

pushing it.”

The Bulldogs made 11 of 34 three-point attempts while the Lions made

eight of 20. Bryce Harrison had 17 followed by Randy Ranalli with 15

points.

Josh Pierson had five three-pointers for Vanguard and finished with 15

points. Shane McKim also came up big for the Lions, chipping in with 18

points.

“I am glad we came out and took care of business,” French said. We are

making a little bit smarter decisions and we’re slowing the ball down

when we need to. I’d like to see us get some more easy buckets.”

The Lions, who have been plagued by injuries all season, earned their

fourth straight win.

“Right now everything is coming together,” Morbley said. “We finally

have (almost) everybody healthy. If we play together as a team, we are

hard to beat.”