PHOTOS: Jared Brown from Cypress emerges as impact player in first year at Westmont

Jared Brown drives to the basket for Westmont College. (Photos courtesy Westmont College sports information/Brad Elliott)

Former Cypress High School basketball star Jared Brown stepped in and made an immediate impact with Westmont College this past season, helping the Warriors win the Golden State Athletic Conference title, their first since 2013.

The freshman started all 31 games, one of just two players on the team to do that and averaged 11.3 points a game. Defense was Brown’s specialty and he did it well, recording 44 steals on the season. Brown notched career highs of 23 points and seven rebounds against Pomona Pitzer on Nov. 16 and recorded a career high seven assists on Nov. 9 at La Sierra.

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All in all, it couldn’t have gone much better for Brown, who was a two-time All-CIF and two-time All-Empire League MVP for Coach Derek Mitchell’s Cypress High squad, which captured the league title two out of the three years he was there. Brown set numerous offensive records, including most 3-pointers in a game, nine and joined the 1,000 point club in his career with the Centurions.

“To be honest going to Westmont was a blessing and it was just a great decision that I made to go there, not even for the basketball aspect,” said Brown, who scored in double figures 20 times for Westmont. “I started in every game this year and I was able to do my thing as far as basketball. But just meeting so many great people at Westmont and just learning more about my faith was super important to me. My faith in just a short amount of time has already grown so much just from going to Westmont. Both on and off the court, Westmont has been amazing.

“I wanted kind of a family kind of feel, I wanted to feel like I belonged there, I wanted to feel wanted and when I went to Santa Barbara, to know I was going to live here it was beautiful and it was something I couldn’t pass up on and I knew from the start my relationship with Coach (John) Moore and Coach (Landon) Boucher, I knew I was going to fit perfectly.”

Moore, the legendary head coach, retired after the end of the season after coaching the Warriors for 27 years. He is remaining as associate athletic director.

“Playing for Coach Moore was truly a blessing and he is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” Brown said.

The former assistant coach Boucher, who was named the new head coach, was impressed from Brown when he saw him play in high school.

“Jared has been an incredible addition to the Westmont basketball program, as he started every game last season as a freshman,” Boucher said. “Jared’s love for the game is special, and it’s what drives him to continually improve.  

“Ironically enough, the way Westmont College found out about Jared was because when I was the head coach at San Marcos High, we played Cypress High School in the quarterfinals.  Jared had my full attention the entire game, I was impressed with his defensive capabilities as much as his lightning speed on offense.

“I saw Jared adapt extremely well to the level of play, but also to the role our team had for him last season.  Oftentimes, players who are big-time scorers in high school have trouble adapting to a different role in their first years in college. With Jared it was the opposite, he flourished in a new role for us, helping us win a league title and a 26-5 overall record before COVID-19 cut our season short.”

Brown’s role with Westmont at different. After being the leading scorer with the Cypress program, his focus with the Warriors was on defense.

“I was used mainly for guarding the best guard on the other team so that was my main job and just play the best defense I can,” Brown said. “It was different, like in high school I was the man. This year I was more like the third or fourth option so it was like score when I could and get my teammates involved and just tried to just be the best teammate I can be.”

Westmont began the season with a 14-0 record, the second best start in program history and had received the No. 2 seed in the NAIA tournament before it was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The squad was ranked as high as No. 4 in the NAIA Coaches’ Poll and wound up the season ranked seventh.

“We won our conference, the first time since 2013, so that was huge for us,” Brown said. “We were really under-rated coming into the season. No one expected us to do anything and for us to win it, it really put us on the map and going into the tournament we had a really good seeding and who knows, if we went I truly believe we would have truly done some damage and went to the finals.”

Brown said he remains in contact with Mitchell, the Centurions coach and remembers his days at Cypress fondly.

“I guess it’s kind of selfish but I wanted to build something where I could go back in four years and say, ‘man, I did that and I was a big part in the rise of Cypress basketball’ and I just wanted to put Cypress on the map and I felt I did that and (Coach) Mitchell did that as well as far as really putting Cypress on the map in OC and in general,” Brown said.

Through it all, Brown remained confident and humble handling success.

“That was so important to me, ever since I was young; it was something my parents taught me,” he said. “It’s cool to be confident but being humble is what’s more important and it’s what people will like and really appreciate about you, especially if you work hard because they know that it shows your true character.”

Mitchell, the Cypress coach, said he was proud of Brown’s effort this year.

“I think he had a sensational freshman year,” Mitchell said. “He started as the point guard on a Top 10 team.  Jared had to earn the respect of returning players, and he had to take on a leadership role as the point guard.  That’s not easy to do. He definitely went there to prove himself, and I think he surpassed all expectations.”  

The future appears bright for Brown, who is majoring in kinesiology.

“I know our goal as a team next year, we pretty much have the whole team coming back except for two seniors,” he said. “So we have really high expectations to win league again and then just win the national championship. That was our goal last year and this year, with everyone coming back, it’s really on our list to succeed.

“Our team is definitely special in the way that we all get along really well from the last player off the bench to the best player and I feel that’s why we succeeded this year and that’s why we will continue to have more success next year.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com

(Information provided by Westmont College sports information)

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