It was a tale of two halves for No. 17 TMU Men's Basketball on Saturday night in its Golden State Athletic Conference opener at Westmont.
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The Mustangs shot 48.2% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range in the opening half, taking an eight-point lead into halftime. Those percentages dropped to 27.0% and 15.0% in the second half, as Westmont outscored Master's by 20 points in the second half to hand TMU its first loss of the season, 78-66.
The defeat ended an eight-game winning streak for TMU in the very competitive rivalry matchup.
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"It was a disappointing loss for us," Master's Head Coach
Kelvin Starr said. "We gave it away by turning the ball over way too much."
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The Warriors won the turnover battle 20-11, including 12-2 in steals, leading to a 22-4 advantage in points off turnovers. Westmont also dominated the points in the paint, 40-18.
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"I hate losing when a team has to go to a zone because they can't guard you man-to-man," Starr said. "But when you shoot 3-for-20 from the 3-point line in the second half, that won't get it done."
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The Mustangs controlled the first half of play, leading by as many as 12 points and limiting the Warriors to just 26 points.
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Westmont then began to chip away at the TMU's lead in the second half, taking the lead themselves for the first time at 43-42 with 12:24 left.
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Master's briefly retook its advantage until the Warriors took it right back after a 3-point play with 7:26 remaining. Westmont (7-0 overall, 1-0 GSAC) ran away with it from then on out to win the battle of unbeatens.
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Davian Brown led Master's in scoring with 25 points, while adding eight rebounds.
Kaleb Lowery recorded a double-double of 11 points and 15 rebounds.
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TMU (4-1 overall, 0-1 GSAC) returns to the court on Tuesday evening in nonconference action, as Master's travels to take on University of Antelope Valley in Lancaster. The Mustangs defeated the Pioneers at home on Tuesday, 77-70.
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"We will have to bounce back quickly with UAV and the Arizona trip coming up," Starr said.
