Mustangs upset by Hope International

It seemed like the nation's No. 1 team wouldn't lose again this season.
 
The Master's University not only won games, it dominated them.
 
To the tune of 25 in a row.
 
Until Thursday night when No. 13 Hope International rallied down the stretch to pull off a 63-62 upset of the Mustangs.
 
Losing for the first time in over three months (87-84 at the University of Antelope Valley on November 3), the Mustangs dropped to 26-2 overall and 12-1 in the GSAC.
 
Having already clinched the top seed in the upcoming GSAC Tournament, the Mustangs were looking to win outright their first-ever GSAC regular-season championship.
 
Hope International didn't cooperate and neither did Westmont which outlasted Vanguard to stay one game behind the Mustangs in conference play.
 
It wasn't coincidental that on a night when the Mustangs shot a season-low 33.8% from the field, they scored a season-low, too.
 
And, when leading scorer Lawrence Russell scores just two points, things don't bode well.
 
"We faced a really good defensive team tonight," said second-year head coach Kelvin Starr.  "They made everything tough."
 
The first hint of a struggle on the offensive end came in the first half when the Mustangs went scoreless for over five minutes.
 
Yet, they only trailed 10-7 at the 12:51 mark of the opening stanza.
 
When they sandwiched three-pointers from Hansel Atencia and Hodges Bailey around an Atencia layup, and Tim Soares canned a jumper, the Mustangs finished off a 10-0 run for a 14-10 lead.
 
Soon thereafter, the Mustangs endured another scoring drought, going 2:37 without a point while Hope went in front 22-19.
 
Minutes later, the Mustangs went scoreless in a 2:55 window yet tied the game at 26 when Soares drained a three-pointer with 2:39 left in the first half.
 
Hope went to halftime up 30-28.
 
The Mustangs shot just 33% (9-27) over the opening 20 minutes.  Holding the Royals to 38% accuracy kept them in the game.
 
After falling behind 34-28 early in the second half, the Mustangs used a Soares trifecta and a Delewis Johnson three-point play to tie the game.
 
A Bailey three-pointer with 14:32 left gave the Mustangs a 39-36 lead and that fueled a 10-0 blitz, creating a 10-point cushion two minutes later.
 
Remarkably, the country's fourth-highest scoring team would score only 17 more points over the final 12 minutes.
 
Methodically, the Royals began to chip away at the deficit.
 
They used a 9-4 skein to pull within 52-49 at the 6:06 mark, drew within one (56-55) with 4:41 remaining, and caught the Mustangs at 59 with 2:43 showing on the clock.
 
Thirty-four seconds later, they took the lead on two free throws by Donny Punter and a dunk by Daniel Young completed an 8-0 burst that put the Royals ahead 63-59 with 1:18 left.
 
A Bailey three-pointer with just over a minute remaining pulled the Mustangs within one but they wouldn't score again and when Atencia's layup attempt with three seconds left went awry, the Royals had their upset.
 
Johnson, who went 5-8 from the field, led the Mustangs with 15 points.  Atencia added 14 more and Soares had 13 points.  Bailey was a real bright spot offensively, going 3-3 from behind the arc en route to 11 points.
 
With a chance to win the conference regular-season crown on Saturday, the Mustangs will wear the target at Vanguard.