Men's basketball holds off the Hawks for 45th straight home win

A win is a win even if it's not pretty.
 
That's what The Master's University men's basketball team took away Saturday evening after fending off San Diego Christian 65-55 in The MacArthur Center to earn its 45th straight home win. 
 
"We found a way to win short-handed against a scrappy, resilient, well-coached San Diego team," said TMU head coach Kelvin Starr. "Our defense was great in the second half."

So too was Brock Gardner, the reigning NAIA Division 1 Player of the Week, who scored 16 of his game-high 23 points after the break. Gardner, who added 15 rebounds and four assists, made all five of his shots and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line over the game's final 20 minutes when the No. 2-ranked Mustangs (11-0, 3-0 GSAC) finally created some breathing room.
 
The Hawks didn't trail until TMU's Jordan Starr (14 points) scored on a layup with 11:48 left in the first half.  It was part of an 8-0 run by the Mustangs, who eventually extended the advantage to 19-14.
 
Later, San Diego Christian used a 7-0 run to reclaim the lead and went to halftime ahead 30-29.
 
The Mustangs shot just over 32 percent (9-of-28) in the first half and Gardner didn't find his usual rhythm. He went 1-for-8 in 18 minutes of action in the first half and had seven points. But that all changed. 
 
Gardner's layup with 14:34 left to play put the Mustangs ahead to stay and that bucket was part of his 16 second-half points. A Darryl McDowell-White three-pointer with 5:29 remaining boosted the margin to nine points, but the Hawks didn't go away, getting as close as 55-50 before senior Sam Boone, who finished with seven points and 11 rebounds, scored on a layup and Gardner closed out the victory by scoring the club's final eight points.
 
Following a poor first-half shooting performance, the Mustangs improved to 50% from the field in the second period.
 
They also went 9-of-9 from the charity stripe in the second half.

On the defensive end, the Mustangs limited the Hawks to 29% accuracy over the final 20 minutes and 30.3% for the game.
 
Following four days of final exams, the Mustangs return to non-conference action and the road next Friday when they travel to play at the University of Antelope Valley (No. 25 in NAIA Division II) in a 4:00 p.m. start in Lancaster.  The Mustangs beat the Pioneers 73-65 back on November 6.
 
"We have a lot of work to do on the offensive side of the ball," said Starr.