11/12/2023 Fulton, Mo- The Westminster College men's basketball team opened their season by hosting the 2023 SLIAC/ ARC challenge. They start the season against Buena Vista on Saturday and the Blue Jays would lose to the Beavers, 127-68. Westminster regrouped and came back to face off against Simpson College on Sunday. The Storm would defeat the Blue Jays 98-88 in a very entertaining game. The Blue Jays fall to 0-2 to start the 2023 campaign. 

Game One: Vs Buena Vista 

The Blue Jays got out to a hot start, taking an early 6-2 lead. Buena Vista would then go on an 18-0 run to take a 22-6 lead. The Beavers would run away with it, winning the game 127-68. 

Senior guard Brennan Jeffries led the team with a 20-point performance. He would go 7-7 from the free throw line and went 1-2 from behind the three-point arc. Jeffries was 6-14 from the field. Junior center, Ben Eberlin had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. The big man went 6-10 from the field. Kaden Eirhart would kick in 9 points, going 4-5 from the field, and made one three-pointer. Freshman Aaron Poage had 7 points off the bench for the Blue Jays. 

Game Two: Vs Simpson 

The Blue Jays would not have much time to regroup from their loss on Saturday as they were right back in action on Sunday against the Simpson College Storm. It was a hard-fought game inside the Historic Gym that saw the Blue Jays come back after being down 26 points. The Blue Jays cut the Storm lead to 8 points, but it wasn't quite enough as Simpson walked away with the 98-88 victory. 

Simpson shot an impressive 50.0% from the field, 28.6% from beyond the arc, and an outstanding 84.6% from the free-throw line, going 22-26 from the line. They would make 8 three-pointers in the game and went 34-68 from the field. 

Despite Westminster's efforts in the second half, it wasn't quite enough to complete the comeback. Ben Eberlin scored a career-high of 25 points. He would also have 9 rebounds. Freshman Jack Fessenden would score 16 points, going 7-16 from the field, he would make 2 threes in the game. Kaden Eirhart scored 15, going 4-7 from behind the arc and went 5-8 from the field. Aaron Poage chipped in 13 points off the bench. He would go 6-8 from the free-throw line. He would get fouled two different times on three-point attempts. The unsung hero from the Blue Jays was Brysan Jeffries. He would have a team-high 11 rebounds and 8 assists. 

The Blue Jays will play on Tuesday, November 14th against Central Christian College in Moberly, Missouri. That game will tip-off at 7:00 PM.