Santa Barbara, CA — SANTA BARBRA, Calif.- Thursday night (18) Hope International took on (4) Westmont for a conference game in Santa Barbra. Hope enters 14-5, 3-4 in GSAC and Westmont enters 17-2, 6-1 in GSAC. The Warriors took the lead early in the first half but the Royals battled back the entire half with solid defense and consistent offense. For a majority of the first half, the teams exchanged bucket for bucket The Royals went on a 15-5 scoring run to tie the game up at 28 with just less than 4 minutes left in the half. Josh Powell-Davis (JR/Oakland, CA) rebounded the ball and threw a pass to Kane Daniels (SR/Blythe, CA) who scored on a fast break give the Royals the lead 32-31. The Warriors responded with a three-pointer of their own before Kane Daniels was sent to the free-throw line and tied the game at 34. The score remained 34-34 at the end of the half. During the first half, Anthony Garcia (JR/Fontana, CA) played outstanding defense in the first half and took away Warriors three-point shooter Abram Carrasco. In the second half, the Warriors relied on their confidence to shoot from behind the arc. They came out of the gate firing from the three-point range to take the early lead and continued to fire from a distance the remainder of the game. The Warriors shot 57% from distance in the second half, adding eight more threes to their five they made in the first half. Halfway into the second half, the Royals started to struggle with getting the ball into the hoop and allowed the Warriors to maintain a larger lead. Reggie Varner (JR/Moreno Valley, CA) hit a three-pointer with 3:20 remaining, which cut the lead to single digits. Then Josh Powell Davis brought the Royals within seven with a bucket in the paint. With time quickly running out, the Royals were able to bring the game within 3 but did not have enough time to come back from their early sixteen-point deficit earlier in the half. The Warriors would take the game 84-78. Jonah Underwood (SR/San Jose, CA) led the offense with 19 points, while Josh Powell- Davis added 15 points of his own. Reggie Varner and Kane Daniels each contributed 10 points of their own. Men's basketball prepare for another great matchup as they host Vanguard at Darling Pavilion on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 4:00 pm.