No. 7 Mustangs fall to No. 23 Arizona Christian

The Master's University men's basketball team's second-half charge wasn't enough to avoid a 93-84 loss to Arizona Christian on Saturday inside the MacArthur Center.

Down by 10 at one point after the break, the Mustangs rallied to take the lead and remained ahead until the 2:16 mark. But the Firestorm closed the game on a 13-3 run to beat Master's for the first time in the teams' last eight meetings. 
 
"Proud of the guys tonight," said TMU head coach Kelvin Starr.  "Rebounded from a tough loss on Thursday with a tremendous effort today, particularly in the second half."
 
Senior center Tim Soares led all scorers with 23 points and his game-high 12 rebounds gave him his sixth double-double of the season.
 
Senior forward Brock Gardner tallied 17 points and senior guard Darryl McDowell-White added 10 more.
 
Senior forward Sam Boone did a nice job off the bench, tossing in 12 points.
 
The Mustangs couldn't contain the Firestorm from behind the three-point line in the first half.
 
Arizona Christian used seven consecutive three-pointers in a 4:14 window in the first half to help erase a couple of 10-point deficits on the way to a 33-25 lead.
 
The Firestorm went 12-for-21 from behind the arc in the first half and led 54-47 at the break.
 
ACU's Shane Carney buried another three 19 seconds into the second half and the Firestorm still led by nine points (64-55) when De'Ron Kyle buried a three-pointer with 15:45 left to play.
 
However, the Mustangs outscored the Firestorm 15-5 over the next 6:03 to take the lead (70-69) on two Soares free throws with 9:42 remaining.
 
TMU led by as many as four points on a Darryl McDowell-White layup with 5:35, but the Firestorm closed with a 19-6 run to win.
 
"We just have to get better executing down the stretch," said Starr.  "That's on me as a coach."
 
With seven games left in conference play, the Mustangs (17-5, 7-4 GSAC) trail first-place Westmont by three games.
 
Looking to snap the two-game skid, the Mustangs welcome Menlo to The MacArthur Center next Thursday evening in a 7:30 p.m. start.